 Grandma's Jars I can still see the joy in my Dad’s eyes as he stood in his garden and bit into a sun-warmed tomato he had just picked off the vine.
Or watching my Mom pop a strawberry in her mouth from time to time as she picked a big bowl of perfectly ripe fruit for our strawberry shortcake dessert.
Or the autumn smell of a pot of stew simmering on the stove chock full of veggies from our garden.
And canning jars full of veggies and fruit from the season harvest, sitting on the counter that my Grandma had just finished “putting up.”
That first chomp on an ear of corn, dripping with real butter, at a backyard family get together for the Fourth of July.This is the way we lived – and our people before us – and before them.
We didn’t use chemicals on our gardents – to keep out the bugs or to fertilize the plants – and we didn’t think of ourselves as “organic farmers” or any other fancy name.
We used compost to give our plants what they needed.
Of course, we had plenty of kitchen scraps for our compost because that’s the way we ate. And nothing was wasted.
We didn’t have three big cans of garbage that had to be hauled off to the landfill every week.
We recycled before we knew what that word meant.
Meat scraps went to the animals.
Canning jars were reused every season.
Tin cans – the few we had – collected nails and other odds and ends in the shed part of the pump house.
Worn out clothes went into the rag bag and someetimes ended up as a new quilt. Outgrown clothes went to the churc
We lived on 13 acres in the country and our compost system was a pile and a pitchfork. And it worked for us and countless other people around the world.
Compost is free, it’s clean, and readily available to everyone to produce in this day and age.
You won’t have to soak your lettuce in a tub full of water to which you’ve added vinegar and salt in order to break down the chemicals used to produce the lettuce.
Think about it. Read the papers and learn about all the bad things the big companies do to the food they sell us.
Look at all the “good” kitchen scraps that end up at the land fills.
There are many different ways to create compost – a pile, bin, or tumbler are the most common outdoors methods.
Indoors, you can use compost crocks or pails to temporarily store your scraps, or the Bokashi Method. You can also have a “backporch” compost tumbler, which is small enough to fit on your balcony or, well, back porch!
Another method of composting is worm composting, which can be done indoors as well – and throughout the year.
A lot of the systems you can use will result in a liquid called compost tea – or you can make it specifically. This liquid is great to use on your house plants.
Mushroom compost – a by-product from mushroom growers – is a great, inexpensive product you can incorporate into your compost routine.
In the fall, you can collect all of your raked-up leaves – or those of your neighbors – and put them in plastic garbage bags. You simply store them in a shed or garage until spring and then you will have wonderful “leaf mulch” to use on your flower beds.
A Different Way of Composting
Worm composting is done in a wormery (worm compost bin) and is an alternative method of making compost that utilizes live worms to “eat” kitchen and garden refuse and turn it into castings. A worm can process half of its body weight each day, effectively reducing the materials by as much as 80%.
 Watering your houseplants with worm compost tea Worm compost bins make compost much quicker than regular compost bins or compost tumblers. After the worms eat the materials you feed them and produce the castings, which are richer in nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium than normal compost, you benefit from the results in two ways. First, you can collect the liquid, a form of compost tea, that drips out of the bottom of the wormery, mix it with water, and use it to spray on your plants leaves. Second, when the castings are finished, you collect them and use them as you would compost in your garden.
How a Compost Using a Worm Compost Bin
Wormeries are very simple. One example is a vertical wormery that is composed of three trays with holes in the bottom of each tray allowing the worms to move from tray to tray. To begin, you put bedding in the bottom tray and then add the worms. The bedding can consist of shredded newspapers, mature compost, sawdust, hay, dried leaves, burlap bags, etc. The goal is to have the bedding as similar to the worm’s natural habitat as possible, which would be like the moist, dried leaves found in a garden or forest floor. The worms will then migrate towards the food.
The top tray holds the food – fresh kitchen and garden scraps that can be put in every day or so and covered with damp newspapers or other bedding. The second tray is the work-in-progress tray where most of the composting takes place. This compost is not finished yet. The third tray is where the finished product ends up.
You can keep a compost crock or compost pail in your kitchen to collect the scraps, but be careful not to provide the worms with too much at one time or it will just rot in the wormery.
When the third tray becomes full, you take the finished compost out and rotate the trays, putting the now empty bottom tray on the top and moving the other two trays down a notch. These particular wormeries are on legs and also include another container at the bottom, with a spigot, where the liquid collects. This is the liquid that, when mixed with water, is great for your plants.
There are other types of wormeries as well. The one mentioned above is vertical. You can also find divided horizontal wormeries that work much the same way. There are also wormeries that aren’t divided, but they are a lot less convenient to use as you have to empty them out from time to time to remove the compost and aerate them by hand.
The Types of Materials You Can Put Into a Wormery
The types of material you can put into a wormery are somewhat different than what you would put in conventional compost bins or compost tumblers. First, you need to chop up the materials and give it to the worms often and in small batches. You can add a lot of the same things, such as plant and vegetable refuse, that you would normally use in a compost bin or compost tumbler, but you should avoid heavily acidic fruits, onions and garlic, and some people say not to use potato peelings. Also, worms don’t do well with anything oily.
Temperature Considerations
The temperature for a wormery is important. Worms won’t survive long in high temperatures. It’s best to keep the wormery in a shady spot between 55 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (12-21 degrees Celsius). The temperature of the bedding should not drop below freezing or above 89.6 °F (32 °C).
Yes! A Wormery is Great for Dog Feces and Cat Litter!
A separate wormery can be used to process dog feces and cat litter. Worms will eat this and turn it into castings that can be used in the ornamental part of your garden. This is especially useful if you have a dog or cat and disposing of the their feces and litter is a continuing problem. If handled correctly, there will be no odor.
A Wormery is Great in a Small Space
Wormeries are great if you don’t have a lot of space. They can be tucked into the laundry room, in a shady corner of your patio or courtyard or, when the weather permits, under a shady tree. They have no odor and they turn your garden and kitchen refuse into usable compost quickly and benefit your garden and indoor plants.
 
Worm Factory 360 WF360B Worm Composter
This worm composting bin is one of the most popular on the market today. It comes in three colors, terra cotta, black, and green.
When you compost with worms, your kitchen garbage, paper waste, and cardboard become the soil for your plants and it’s loaded with nutrients.
The Worm Factory 360 compost bin system makes this process easy to do and you can do it year round, indoors or outdoors.
Worm composting is a lot faster than traditional compost making and use the worm castings to nourish your plants. Experts agree that worm castings are a very rich form of plant fertilizer.
This system is odor-free, so you can put it anywhere it will fit, whether you have an apartment or a huge home.
Here are some of the features and benefits of this efficient worm composting system:
The redesigned lid converts to a handy stand for trays while harvesting the compost
- The Worm Factory 360 comes with 4 trays and can be expanded up to 8 trays.
- The redesigned lid converts to a handy stand for trays while harvesting the compost.
- An instructional DVD with step-by-step guide for managing your Worm Factory 360 is included.
- The accessory kit provides basic tools to make managing the Worm Factory 360 easier (see picture below).
- Built in “worm tea” collector tray and spigot for easy draining. This is great for your indoor plants.
For more information, click here: Worm Factory 360 WF360B Worm Composter
 
Compost is a dark, crumbly, organic product that you can make yourself by using organic material you have around your house or can obtain from the outside. Compost is similar to the organic matter found in high quality soil and improves the quality of your soil when it is added. If you have sandy soil, it allows the soil to hold more moisture and supplies missing nutrients. If your soil is clay, it makes it more workable.
 Hands holding finished compost Making compost is not difficult. There are many different methods, such as compost bins, compost crocks, compost tumblers, and the pile in the corner of your garden. There are also many accessories you can buy to insure the success of your compost, as well as books on how to compost. But a pile, the right mixture of ingredients, and a pitchfork are all you really need.
Compost bins, and compost tumblers can be made out of chicken wire, wood stakes, wooden pallets, food grade drums, wire mesh, black plastic sacks, and other materials. You can also buy kitchen composters, such as a compost crock or pail made out of ceramic or stoneware, that you keep in your kitchen until you can add it to your compost. If you are handy, there are patterns and instructions you can use to make your own compost bins or compost tumblers. You can even have a wormery (worm compost bin) and let earthworms do all the work!
Your method of compost making depends on several choices you must make.
- Do you like working in your garden regularly and get a wonderful feeling when you turn the compost pile with your pitch fork and see it working?
- Do you live in an urban area with limted space and your compost is important to conceal? Would a back porch compost tumbler be better for you?
- Do you only get out to your compost pile infrequently and need something in your home to stockpile the raw materials? Maybe a kitchen compost crock?
- Do you get satisfaction from building things and would like to tackle building a compost bin or compost tumbler?
- How much raw material do you generate each day?
- What’s the weather like where you live? Will the earth freeze in the winter and your compost-in-the-making be covered with snow?
- Do you want to get a jump start on your compost over the winter and have a good stock pile for Spring when you start your garden?
You need to analyze your particular situation and then do some research on your chosen method.
The next thing to pay attention to is the composition of the materials you put into your compost pile, whatever system you use. Here is a list of allowable things:
- Coffee grounds and organic coffee filters
- Tea bags
- Egg shells, but wash them first
- Fruit and vegetable scraps
- Herbacide free grass clippings
- Hay
- Shredded leaves
- Manure (not dog or cat)
- Peanut shells, but they are slow to decompose
- Pine needles – very acid
- Wood shavings, sawdust – slow to decompose
- Stable bedding – better than pure manure
- Weeds – cut them up first, very slow to decompose
- Wheat or oat straw – slow to decompose
- Wood ash – Don’t use a lot and don’t use ashes from charcoal fires or from wood that was painted
Here is a list of things you shouldn’t put in your compost:
- Anything fatty, such as butter, cheese, lard, vegetable oil, mayonnaise, sour cream, salad dressing, peanut butter, milk
- Chicken or any kind of meat
- Dog and Cat Manure
- Fish – too smelly
- Disposable diapers
- Diseased organic materials
To make successful compost, you need to make sure you have a good mix of several things, such as the good organic materials mentioned above, oxygen, moisture, micro-organisms, and heat.
Aerobic (with oxygen) compost making is what you strive for. This means your pile must be aerated regularly and not allowed to become compacted. Then it’s considered anaerobic (without oxygen) and can cause problems with odor. An anaerobic pile will still compost, and is very little work, but the process takes a long time.
When making compost with a pile or bin, you aerate the material with a pitchfork, or something similar, to turn the pile. With compost tumblers, you turn a crank or handle, which rotates your ingredients, or roll a ball filled with your material around your yard.
If you chose to have a compost pile, size is also important. If your pile is too small, it won’t heat up enough. If it is too large, it will heat up, but be difficult to manage. A good rule of thumb for a “pile” compost heap is about 3′ x 3′ x 3′. The best pile temperature is between 110 degrees F and 150 degrees F. You can purchase a compost thermometer to measure the heat in your pile.
When the heat in your compost pile, by whichever method you have chosen, has returned to normal, your finished organic garden compost should be clean-smelling, dark, crumbly, and ready for your garden.
 Tools for composting Have you taken an inventory of the tools and supplies you use when you are working on your compost? Did you just shove everything in the corner of your garage or storage shed at the end of the season, intending to get back to them, but never remembered to do so? It’s never too late and you have a lot of time before the next gardening season is upon us.
For the moment, you can take stock of what you have, clean it up for the next season, and purchase the new things you would like to have in your “compost” arsenal.
Tool Tips for Compost Making
- Claw Fork Compost Turner
- Leaf Rake
- Hula Hoe (remember them?)
- Hose & Nozzle
- Compost Thermometer
- Pitchfork
- Compost Aerater
- Oil & Rags
- Toolbox or Crate
- Garden Shredder
- Garden Gloves
- Garden Boots
- Sun Hat
- Black Plastic Bags (for leaf mulch)
- Shovel
- A good book on How to Make Compost
- Sieve to sift out the larger twigs and pieces
- Compost Activator in case the temperature doesn’t rise
- Long & Short Handled Pruning Shears
Gather what you have together, inspect and clean each piece with your oil and rags (if appropriate), check for damaged tools and replace them as necessary, and buy whatever new things you would like to have for next season. You’ll be glad you took the time to do this now when that first sunny day arrives and your ready to get busy in your garden!
What Are They and How Do They Work?
The theory behind compost tumblers is to tumble the compost so it stays aerated and decomposes faster. You put all of your refuse with a little organic compost material into the ball or drum and tumble it in one of several ways. It doesn’t take a lot of energy or time to produce good quality organic compost for your garden. In your compost making efforts, you might find this is the best way to go, especially if your time and/or energy are limited.
The Ball Compost Tumbler. . .
The most basic of the compost tumblers is simply a ball or drum that you fill with compost making materials and roll around the yard from time to time.
This would be a good project for your children, if you have any! These balls aren’t set upon a base, like some of the other compost tumblers. One advantage is that you can roll them wherever you need them.
The Drum Compost Tumbler. . .
One of the rolling styles that has a base is simply a drum or barrel set on a base that either has or doesn’t have rollers to facilitate the rolling process. Sometimes they will have a place for your feet so you can sit there and rotate the drum with your feet. Later when the compost is ready, you can put it on the ground and roll it to your garden location.
A little more sophisticated are the drums that sit above the ground and have a pole that runs in the center. They can either be mounted horizintally or vertically, with the horizontal mounted ones being easier to rotate than the vertical ones, as they tend to become very heavy when full.
The Hand-Cranked Gear-Driven Compost Tumbler. .
The most sophisiticated styles are the compost tumblers that are operated with a crank. These tumblers sit on an above-ground frame, normally with rollers, and they are driven by a hand-cranked gear-driven system.
The main benefit of these compost tumblers is their ease of use. Some have internal baffles to mix the compost materials better and, since they sit higher on the ground, they are easy to unload into your wheel barrow or whatever.
Kitchen Composting. . .Compost Crocks and Compost Pails
Hand-in-hand with the compost tumblers are the kitchen composters, such as compost crocks and pails. The crocks are really nice and look like a cute cookie jar sitting on your counter.
You can stash your daily organic material in these kitchen compost containers until you can make a trip to the compost bin, tumbler, etc., of your choice. Look for the ones that come with replacable filters to control odor.
 The compost pails hold 3 quarts of kitchen refuse and are very attractive stoneware or stainless steel. They come with dual charcoal filters that last from 2 – 6 months depending upon the amount of your kitchen scraps. Also, they are dishwasher safe, which is handy.
It’s not hard to learn how to compost, whatever method you use. Which one do you prefer?
It’s a By-Product of Mushroom Growing!
Mushroom compost is actually the compost that mushroom growers make in which to grow mushrooms. What you buy is the by-product of this growing process after the mushrooms are harvested.
 Mushrooms growing in mushroom compost Mushroom growers prepare a compost made of different organic materials, such as wheat or rye straw, hay, ground corn cobs, peat moss, cotton seed hulls, gypsum, used horse bedding straw, cocoa shells, cottonseed hulls, canola meal, grape crushings from wineries, soybean meal, potash, gypsum, poultry litter, and other natural organic materials. Most mushroom growers have their own special recipe for their compost.
For the first three to four weeks, the compost is closely watched to make sure the temperature reaches, and exceeds, 160 degrees F for a few days. This heat kills any weed seeds, pests, or pathogens. The compost is also turned frequently to aid in aeration.
When the above stage is finished, the compost is moved into the building where the mushrooms will be grown. Approximately one week before the mushroom spawn is added, the mushroom compost is steam pasteurized to about 140 degrees F. This kills any remaining surface disease-causing organisms and pests.
When the compost is finally ready, it is topped with sphagnum peat moss which has been mixed with some ground limestone and the mushroom spores are sprinkled on top.
Approximately five weeks later the mushrooms are ready for harvest and they will be harvested for about three to four weeks.
The “spent” compost, as well as everything else in the growing room, is then steam pasteurized. The mushroom compost is ready.
Because the materials used to make mushroom compost do not contain many heavy metals, the compost itself is low in heavy metals . Also, the pesticide level is low as mushroom farmers do not, as a rule, use pesticides on their mushroom crops.
This is the mushroom compost you can buy as Spent Mushroom Compost (SMC), Mushroom Soil, or Spent Mushroom Substrate (SMS).
How to Use Mushroom Compost
Mushroom compost, even if it is labeled “mushroom soil”, is not a replacement for regular soil, and should not be used as such. Especially in container gardening, you should not use more than 25% mushroom compost mixed with the soil in the containers.
Because mushroom compost has a high level of soluble salts, which can be harmful to your plants, it must be mixed 50/50 with soil, and then it can be used as a good slow release organic fertilizer (2-1-1,pH 6.8). Be especially careful with plants from the heath family, such as rhododendrons, azaleas, and blueberries. Another way to make mushroom compost “safe” for young plants, is to let it sit, uncovered, over the winter months so it can “cure.”
A lot of people are concerned that mushroom compost, after being pasteurized, is not “alive.” They believe that the pasteurization process kills off the good micro-organisims that normal compost contains. If you feel tht this can be a problem, add some regular organic compost – or compost tea – to your mushroom compost and letting it cure for a while. It doesn’t take long for the mushroom compost to be teeming with micro-organisms again.
 An Earthworm for worm composting Putting mushroom compost into your wormery and letting the worms work on the mushroom compost over the winter months is also good for mushroom compost. The worm castings have many beneficial organisisms, the soluble salts can leach out of the wormery, and any synthetic fertilizers which may have been used on the mushrooms will be broken down by the worms.
Mushroom Compost Research and Statistics
Research from the Pennsylvania State University has shown that mushroom compost contains about 25% organic matter and 58% moisture. This makes the mushroom compost perfect for handling and both making surface applications or incorporating it into the soil. Due to an average of 1.12 % nigrogen, in mostly organic form, the nitrogen is slowly available to your plants. It also contains an average of 0.67% phosphorous (phosphate), 1.24% potassium (potash), 2.29% calcium, 0.35% magnesium, and 1.07% iron. The ideal pH range for most plants is 6.0 to 7.0, and mushroom compost averages 6.6. Perfect compost contains a ratio of 30:1 or LOWER of carbon relative to nitrogen, and mushroom compost has a ratio of 13:1.
A good plan of action is to alternate the mushroom compost as a mulch one year and as a soil amendment the next year.
Professor Higa’s Discovery
In the 1970s, Professor Teruo Higa introduced a compound he named Effective Microorganisms(tm), or EM. Dr. Higa, a Professor of horticulture at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan developed the culture from beneficial, naturally occurring microorganisms which can be inoculated into a medium, such as wheat bran, and used to ferment household kitchen refuse.
This fermented product is then either buried in the garden or mixed into your normal composting making system, such as compost tumblers, compost bins, or a compost pile, where the decomposition process finishes, thus improving the microbial diversity of the finished compost and the soils and plants in which it is used.
What does “Bokashi” Mean?
Bokashi is a Japanese term that means “fermented organic matter.” It is a byproduct of EM and is used as a compost accelerator. The EM are natural lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and phototrophic bacteria that act as a microbe community within the kitchen scraps, fermenting and accelerating breakdown of the organic matter.
Kitchen scraps fermented in this manner will be ready to bury in your garden within two weeks. When you use the bokashi method, your kitchen scraps do not decompose as in traditional composting methods.They ferment, like pickles or wine. Therefore, the finished product does not resemble compost, but, like finished pickles, it looks about the same as when you started, just pickled.
When the fermenting process is finished, the next step is to bury the resulting product in your garden, about a foot deep, or mix it into your regular compost making system and let it finish breaking down into compost.
How to Use the Liquid from Bokashi
The liquid that results from the bokashi method is very beneficial to your plants, but should be diluted 100 parts water to 1 part of the bokashi liquid. If you have a septic system, you can pour the liquid down the drain and it will keep your septic system healthy. Other drains in your home that are blocked and sluggish will also be “cleaned out” by the addition of this liquid.
How to Use the Bokashi System
To use the bokashi system in your kitchen for kitchen waste, you will initially need a supply of the bokashi EM mix, which consists of bran, molasses and the microorganisms, and two buckets with tight fitting lids, as the bokashi system is anerobic (without oxygen).
You would add a layer of shredded newspapers on the bottom of the bucket with a layer of the bran mixture. Then start adding layers of refuse, about 2 inches thick, each sprinkled with a handful of the bran mixture.
Keep the layers compacted so there are no pockets of air. Keep layering until the bucket is full, being careful to keep the air-tight lid on the bucket at all times except when you are adding your kitchen refuse.
When the first bucket is full, set it aside and start with the second bucket.
The first bucket should continue to process for about two weeks and can then be buried in your garden or put into your regular compost making system. By this time, the second bucket should be full so you can set it aside and start over with the first bucket.
The Advantages
The advantages of the bokashi system are many:
- ALL kitchen refuse can be put into the bokashi system, even fish, meat, cheese, and bones.
- There is no odor as there is no oxygen to react with the scraps and the lid on the bucket is air-tight.
- Since you are not putting the raw kitchen refuse into a compost making system outdoors, you don’t have to worry about bugs, or animals digging up the refuse. The finished product that you ultimately put into your garden or compost mixture is already pickled so it doesn’t attract bugs or animals.
- The bokashi method is much faster. The resulting product is ready within two weeks of when you finish filling the bucket.
- The liquid resulting from the process is excellent for your plants when mixed with water in a 100:1 ratio.
- You reduce the amount of refuse you put in the local landfills. This not only helps the landfills, but it can save you money.
- As with a wormery, you can use the bokashi mix to ferment dog feces, but you must first mix the feces with other organic matter. Do this separately from the bokashi you will be using for your vegetable garden. After it has fermented, bury it under about 8 inches of soil in your ornamental garden.
- If you have a cat litter box, the addition of a little of the bokashi mixture to the cat litter each week will reduce the odors and is not harmful to the cats. The resulting litter can be processed the same way as dog feces and, after it is fermented, it can be buried in your ornamental garden.
- Your bokashi mixture will last for many years if kept in a dry place out of direct sunlight.
An Earth Saving Revolution
Dr. Higa wrote a book, An Earth Saving Revolution, which explains this process further and how it can help the earth be a better place to live.
Use the Bokashi System to Extend YOUR Compost Making Season
Your kitchen refuse accumulation doesn’t stop when the weather turns cold and neither should your compost making efforts. In two easy steps, you can continue to process all of your kitchen waste using the bokashi bucket system and a back yard compost tumbler. Here are the easy steps:
STEP 1:
- Continue putting your kitchen refuse into the first of your two bokashi compost buckets, sprinkling them with the wheat bran medium inoculated with the microorganisms developed by Professor Higa.
- When the 1st bucket is full, set it aside for 10 days to 2 weeks to finish the ‘pickling’ process and start putting your kitchen waste into the 2nd bucket.
STEP 2:
- When the contents of the first bucket are finished pickling, put them into a back porch compost tumbler.
- These compact compost tumblers weigh just 40 pounds, stand 37″ high x 31″ wide x 26″ deep, and sit on 6″ wheels which makes them really easy to move around.
- Make sure your compost tumbler already has a small amount of compost inside, composed of green and brown organic materials and a little soil. This gives the kitchen scrapes what they need to interact with to finish the compost making process.
That’s it! Now you can continue to process your kitchen scraps, have wonderful compost for your garden when the weather turns warm again, and save our landfills!
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