View allAll Photos Tagged compostable
This small slum has no healthy soil for growing vegetables and herbs. Residents learned how to make soil through a compost. A woman weaves bamboo around the compost to make a basket. The container gardens and compost lessons are funded by Southern Baptist World Hunger Funds. (Photo by Susie Rain)
These two compost piles are half of our composting system, two 6'x6'x4' bins made from timbers and lumber. We've accumulated plenty of organic matter since the fall -- we throw in torn up junk mail, various paper waste products, pretty much whatever will rot, even meat and cheese, both of which people caution against composting, but I've never had any trouble with them.
Our chickens also provide a ton of nutrients and organic matter via their bedding (straw) mixed with their droppings. This will all likely end up in our newly planted forest and veg garden in the spring as sheet mulch material.
The composting operation: community garden members and the church recycle various materials for compost.
Final Compost from the DRANCO plant in Muenster after the post-digester SORDISEP process. The starting feedstock is black bin or residual waste.
standard open area pile: grass, leaves, kitchen scraps, old flowers, etc.
I use a spade shovel to chop up or pulverize stuff - the smaller the better. Open a pit in the middle, toss in the new stuff, then scoop loose material from around the edge (to keep things tidy) and toss it on top. I trick i use, I add old potting/garden soil to pile from spent plants. This slows the compost process a bit, but sometimes I'm also able to dig in sooner.
I used to pick them out, but then realized (thanks to some comments here) that they are probably doing more good in there than harm. I do pick them out before using the compost in the vegetable bed since I think these things are known for eating plant roots.
Mundane and not particularly beautiful... the contents of our compost bin (also known around here as the "raccoon feeder") - I glanced in there and thought it looked funny that everything was orange/white/brown.
The worm composting facility at Las Tres Hermanas is beautiful. When they are full these beds (there are 5) will be 5 more cinder blocks deep with awesome worm compost.
Fish waste compost bins at Sweetgrass Garden Co-op in South Carolina. The co-op received Southern SARE funding to study the benefits of fish waste compost on organic vegetable production.
Closing up bay 1 on our compost set up and adding some nourishing goodness to the pile before winter- nitrogen rich stinging nettles that activate/accelerate the decomposition process, some fresh chicken manure from a friend’s farm (full of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus) and other nourishing goodness. Chicken manure increases the soil’s water holding capacity, provides a food source for soil microbes increasing soil biodiversity and slowly releases micro and macro nutrients. If a compost pile is correctly balanced and at least four feet high, it can produce enough heat even during the cold winter months to decompose. This will sit undisturbed for about 6-12 months and then the rich nourishing fresh soil should be ready to be added to our garden soil while we start working on Bay 2.
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