42- Compost

Episode-42- Compost [ 39:33 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (168)

In this show I talk about compost.  The questions, What is it?  Why do it? How to do it? Ways to do it? How to apply it? are all answered in this show.

What is compost?

• decayed organic matter
• It is part of the Created Cycles of abundance
• Nitrate cycle
  • Composting plant and animal wastes exposes the nitrogen they contain to nitrogen-fixing microorganisms and decomposers that break it down into a form available to plants.
  • Just as in the water cycle God has made it possible for the same water be move around all over the world so too He has created the nitrate cycle so that nitrogen is reused over and over again.  Part of that process is exposes organic matter at one stage to organisms that can break it down further so that it is at a stage usable by another.
• carbon cycles.
  • Green plants use carbon dioxide gas, water, and sunlight to make sugars and other carbon containing compounds that animals use as food.  Carbon compounds in plant and animal wastes provide food for decomposers in the compost pile.  Materials that have passed through he decomposers body and the microbial bodies themselves contain nutrients used by plants to continue the carbon cycle.  God uses natural recycling to provide a sustainable system.

Why compost?

• recycles waste
  • Our landfills are a waste
  • Recycling efforts are helpful but think of all the unnecessary energy that goes into recycling the material when it could be recycled from the ground in which it was last used.
• provides much need humus or organic material to the soil
  • Most soils have been so depleted of organic matter most are trying to grow in subsoil.  There is very little left of the topsoil. The only way to provide more topsoil is to apply generous amounts of organic matter.
• provides nutrition to the soil in a form most conducive to plant use.
  • There is no need for chemical fertilizers, or even organic fertilizers for that matter when compost is used.

How to make compost?

• simply mix together different kinds of organic matter
• for best results you want to mix green (high nitrogen material) with high carbon material) to a ratio of about 30:1.

• Vegetable Peelings (12:1)
• Grass Clippings (20-30:1)
• Fresh Manure (Various)
• Poultry (7:1), Sheep (16:1), Horse (22:1), Cow (18:1)
• Do not use manure from dogs, cats, pigs or humans in your compost pile or in your garden as they can contain harmful parasites and can cause diseases in humans.
• Coffee Grounds (20:1)
• Seaweed (19:1)
• Plants and Plant Cuttings (20-40:1)
• Leaves (50-80:1)
• Legume Hay (15:1) and Non-Legume Hay (30:1)
• Straw: (80:1)
• Paper & Cardboard (150-200:1)
• Eggshells
• Tea Bags
• Sawdust* (400:1)
• Wood Ashes (25:1)

• for best results aerobic activity so turn it often
• maintain right moisture content
• nitrogen activators

Ways to compost?

• pile
  • at least a square yard in space for optimal
  • simple
  • problem is that you will have different levels of completion
• row
  • the row keeps extending and you take the finished product from one side.
  • The organism just migrate laterally.
  • is as easy as pile but eliminates the problem of uneven finishing
• bends
  • pallets
  • fense
  • concrete
  • cinder blocks
    • nice for containing everything
    • show
• bales of hay or straw
  • excellent for air flow
  • when they are broken down enough just add them to the pile and get new ones.
• composting barrels
  • can be really fast
  • does not hold very much
  • is expensive
• composting toilets
• worm bends
  • makes the best compost, worm composting
  • easy to make to difficult
  • can stack functions under a rabbit cage
• compost in place
  • garden is mulched place under mulch beside bed or in row
• compost using livestock
  • hogs
  • chickens
  • rabbits

How to apply?

• As a side dressing
• worked into the soil
• as mulch
• as tea

Don’t be afraid to start composting today!
If you already are composting see how you can take it to the next level.

Resources for this show:

Abundaculture