Composting

You're looking at that and thinking...how disgusting? Or how cool is that?! In a family of 6 this seems essential. All of this would be going into the garbage!! Wasteful is what it is. Note: if you don't want to compost you could put these things in the Yard Waste bin.

I thought this would be an appropriate time to talk about Composting. Nana's Daisies did a Composting Project last night. They read about it in their book (Chapter 5 for fellow Daisies) and then did the project. And, Dev's letter of the week is E (shocker again!) letting him choose his letters almost makes planning easier though because I can predict what's next. But, E is for Enviroment. We are learning about our Enviroment this week as well. :) Anyway, so I know most of you know but for those who don't I thought I would throw in a mini 101 just in case you want to start composting yourselves. Super easy. And, no I'm not a gardener. My yard wishes I was. Daddy's the yard maintainer. That is on my list of things to do because Husband and I want an organic garden to save $$ on our produce. My dream (and only probably in my dreams because I don't know if I could keep it up) would be to have an Edible Lawn in my front yard.

Okay, here's the mini 101:

• A good rule of thumb for sizing a worm bin is this: you can process one-half pound of food scraps per day for each square foot of worm bin surface area. For example, a bin that is 18 inches by 24 inches (18/12 x 24/12) is 3 square feet in surface area and can process about 10.5 pounds of food a week (3 sq ft x 1/2 lb/ft sq/day x 7 days/week = 10.5 lbs). We have a big bin in our back yard that is 18x24 inches and we unload about 8-10 lbs of scraps a week which is roughly a pound a day but we put everything in there from paper towels-food scraps (the girls bring their recyclables and food scraps home from lunch/snack).
• Place a six- to eight-inch layer of bedding material in the bin. Suitable bedding materials include any nontoxic, pH-neutral material that holds water and allows air to circulate. Shredded paper, including office paper and newspaper, cardboard, and well-composted horse or cow manure all make good bedding. Paper and cardboard should be shredded into two-inch or narrower strips. This part the kids love to do but they think they have to rip these tiny pieces so make sure you specify STRIPS or you'll be there all day.
• The bedding must be moist but it should not be dripping wet. Moisten the bedding material by soaking it in water, then drain it and squeeze out the excess moisture. The material should feel like a damp sponge. Fluff up the material to assure that it is well aerated. If you were to ring it out you should get drips of water not a pool/puddle so just damp.
• Add one-half to one pound of worms for each square foot of surface area of worm bed. Because composting worms tend to live in the upper layers where the food is being added, it is the surface area of the bed, not the bed depth, that determines the worm population. Give the worms time to burrow into the bedding material before you feed them. Sky Nursery has worms you can purchase for your bins. They are inexpensive.
• Worms can process a wide range of organic materials as long as the materials are not too salty or too acidic. Fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds and filters, and tea bags all make good worm food. Citrus fruit and peels should only be applied in small amounts because of their high acidity. Worms and microorganisms will process chopped or ground food scraps more rapidly than they will process large-sized pieces of food, but, given time, whole foods will break down. Meat, bones, dairy products, fatty or greasy foods, and pet manure should not be placed in worm beds due to odor and pathogen concerns.

We have an old Tupperware container on top of our Espresso Machine for every day food scraps that the girls empty daily into a bin just outside our backyard door. Husband empties the bigger one into the actual Composting bin. It says to always cover with cardboard but honestly, we have a big black bin that Husband pulls the cover off of and rakes/swirls it around and that does just as good as trying to continually layer. Unless you're not composting as much. I would just ensure that every couple months you are adding bedding to make sure the worms are thriving.

I hope I made composting sound easy and maybe you'll apply it in your homes. :) Happy Earth Month (almost)! PS Blogger is being weird about my last 2 paragraphs and their spacing. My OCD has made me spent too much time figuring it out. So, sorry for the weird spacing. Ergh.