Composting is definitely the least sexy part of “going green.” But after learning that grinding food in the disposal contributes to water pollution, I considered it an environmental duty. To start the composting process, you throw all your kitchen, yard and leaf refuse in a pile and the discarded items decompose over several months, morphing into a nutrient rich fertilizer. The transitional process, however, isn’t pleasant – swarms of insects buzz about, half rotten grapefruit halves stare back at you and there’s sometimes an odiferous whiff.
Although initially intimidating and bordering on gross, composting is simple. I established Project Compost by mounding anything I’d normally throw down the disposal and a load of dead gutter leaves in a shaded corner next my house. If you don’t enjoy the luxury (or curse) of a yard or want to take the cleaner route, you can buy or make a compost bin.
An important step of composting is aeration, achieved by placing holes in the bottom of your compost bin and/or stirring or “turning” your pile if you’ve mounded it on the ground. This also allows the microbes to burrow their way into the fray to facilitate the composting process. I turn my vegetation heap using a pick-hoe about once a week but some websites recommend everyday. Purchased bins make the turning process easier.
Other key steps for composting include the paying attention to the nitrogen/carbon ratio — the 50/50 brown to green percentage. A blend of leaves, grass cuttings and bark should be mingled with your kitchen scraps to aerate, to chemically prevent strong odors and to speed the composting process along. In addition, your compost needs to be moist at all times. Too dry and the microorganisms become dormant; too wet and the aeration process stalls. And one more thing… don't throw meat, bones or fish scraps into the pile – they attract critters.
More resources for composting:
Scientific stuff on howtocompost.org
Easy instructions on Treehugger.com
Mother's Organics Humus Farm
Classes on how to compost at:
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2008.