Compost

[Guest guest]

I just searched the group messages for information on composting and can't

believe there was only one reference to compost among all the people here to eat

raw.

 

Spring is just starting here which means its time to get the garden ready for

planting. Those of you who compost, will you share your tips and tricks?

 

Last year (before I was eating raw.) I purchased a huge black rubber maid

trash can with a lid, then drilled a few drainage holes in it. For the last 12

months I have been adding kitchen scraps, grass clippings, leaves and things to

it. I have never turned it, mostly because its so heavy. We were thinking that

we would till the garden, dump the compost barrel, spread it out and till again.

Is there any thing more we should do to it?

 

Are there things that you do or don't compost? I don't compost the obviously

no-nos like meats or cheese. But is it really ok to compost news print?

 

I look forward to hearing how everyone else does compost!

Leah

 

 

 

How low will we go? Check out Messenger’s low PC-to-Phone call rates.

 

 

[Guest guest]

One of the issues with composting news print is whether it has been printed

with lead linotype. Older news presses uses lead plates which wear down in

the printing. There is a question of trace amount in the paper. In

composting you can be concentrating lead over time. Plus, many of the inks

have bad solvents (especially the color inks.)

 

Many alternative presses uses vegetable/soy-based inks. Try contacting the

printer of your publications and ask chemical composition of the inks and

lead linotype. I forgot which magazine it was (maybe UTNE), but I remember

reading that they were using a compost (i.e. earth) friendly print process.

 

(It's a shame that the magazines that I most want to keep are the most

compostable.)

 

I have read very little about non-printed commercial newsprint but

composters not concerned with organic composting love to use shredded

newspaper.

 

Other issues:

 

Turning is very important to compost. I recommend using at least three

Rubbermaid trash cans like you described. As one can becomes full, you

shovel that full can into an empty can. As you are filling the first can

(which can take a month), you weekly shovel the old compost into an empty

container and the next week you shovel it back again. (As it composts it the

soil dramatically shrinks in size.) When your first can is full, you dump

off your finished compost into some storage area of your garden and cover

with a tarp (by this time it will smell only like a rich loamy soil) and

shovel that first full can into the newly empty can.

 

One final tip that I have learned: if you have delayed emptying your

airtight kitchen compost bucket into your outdoor compost bin and it is

already smelling foul (because of anaerobic bacteria), you can cover the

smelly compost with an inch of soil and it will eliminate any odor problems.

Also, the soil aerobic bacteria help the conversion into an aerobic compost.

 

Turning your compost weekly is more work but trust me (I have been

composting all of our household veggie matter for three years straight) it

will dramatically improve the quality of your compost into a beautiful and

powerful soil additive.

 

Composted matter makes fruit trees burst with fruit you garden fruits and

veggies swell joyous health making them more impervious to pests.

 

Even if your not gardening, I recommend that you compost and just dump the

rich compost back into nature somewhere. You will be able to see the

powerful difference that it makes to the plants and it feels so wonderful to

be giving something back to the green ecosphere. It is a joy to feed the

earth itself.

[Guest guest]

I have actually been wondering about this more and more! I'm eating

so much produce now, that it seems a shame to throw it out when I

could compost it. However, I live in an apartment in a city. Are

there any options for someone like me?

 

Jen

 

rawfood , Leah Morrison <l_morrison2002

wrote:

>

> I just searched the group messages for information on composting

and can't believe there was only one reference to compost among all

the people here to eat raw.

>

> Spring is just starting here which means its time to get the

garden ready for planting. Those of you who compost, will you share

your tips and tricks?

>

> Last year (before I was eating raw.) I purchased a huge black

rubber maid trash can with a lid, then drilled a few drainage holes

in it. For the last 12 months I have been adding kitchen scraps,

grass clippings, leaves and things to it. I have never turned it,

mostly because its so heavy. We were thinking that we would till

the garden, dump the compost barrel, spread it out and till again.

> Is there any thing more we should do to it?

>

> Are there things that you do or don't compost? I don't compost

the obviously no-nos like meats or cheese. But is it really ok to

compost news print?

>

> I look forward to hearing how everyone else does compost!

> Leah

>

>

>

> How low will we go? Check out Messenger's low PC-to-Phone

call rates.

>

>

[Guest guest]

My composting is very simple..... I have an extra container for my vitamix I use

for compost. I keep it next to my trash can under my sink and as I have " trash "

from my food I place it in the container. At the end of the day I add water and

" blend " it, then pour it over my garden. It " compost " in days not weeks and no

further work for me is needed.

 

Trish Burrows

sunflowers2

P.O. Box 456

Newland, NC 28657

828-733-1672

 

---- Original Message -----

Leah Morrison

 

Spring is just starting here which means its time to get the garden ready for

planting. Those of you who compost, will you share your tips and tricks?

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

The person I learned composting from did it in a small apartment in downtown

in Philadelphia. He used five gallon buckets stacked on top of each other

(from home depot) with holes in them. He was also growing a tray of

wheatgrass or sunflower greens per day and would put his finished root mats

in the bucket and then dump his veggie cuttings on the root mats lining the

bucket. Any excess liquids from the cutting soak into the root mats.

 

I asked him if he really had no smell. He swore that the smell only happens

when you allow a non-aerobic breakdown process to occur and this occurs only

from improper aeration. If you have your compost system near the kitchen you

can dump your fresh cuttings directly into the top bucket. He said that he

stacked his buckets in pyramid formation so that if there ever was any

run-off from the top bucket it would flow into the lower buckets.

 

And finally the more you chop up your cutting before throwing them in the

compost the better it will do. A whole uncut grapefruit can anaerobic in the

center. If you cut it up into pieces it will do much better.

 

If you are doing a lot of raw, composting just makes sense.

 

 

rawfood [rawfood ] On Behalf Of

Tanlathiel

Thursday, April 06, 2006 4:04 PM

rawfood

[Raw Food] Re: Compost

 

I have actually been wondering about this more and more! I'm eating

so much produce now, that it seems a shame to throw it out when I

could compost it. However, I live in an apartment in a city. Are

there any options for someone like me?

 

Jen

[Guest guest]

ABOSLUTELY! The finer you make you chop your veggie matter the faster and

better the compost.

 

Juicer pulp is fantastic!

 

 

rawfood [rawfood ] On Behalf Of

Trish Burrows

Thursday, April 06, 2006 4:14 PM

rawfood

RE: [Raw Food] Compost

 

My composting is very simple..... I have an extra container for my vitamix I

use for compost. I keep it next to my trash can under my sink and as I have

" trash " from my food I place it in the container. At the end of the day I

add water and " blend " it, then pour it over my garden. It " compost " in days

not weeks and no further work for me is needed.

 

Trish Burrows

sunflowers2

P.O. Box 456

Newland, NC 28657

828-733-1672

[Guest guest]

I wouldn't dump it. You will have some unhappy neighbors if they are within

nose range.

 

We use a worm bin. http://www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/composting/wormbins.asp Go

to the EZ Worm Composting Bin.

 

We've used this for years.

 

Shari