The Art of Composting

I wouldn’t be a good environmental advocate if I didn’t discuss the act of composting. As the title of this post suggests, it is kind of an art. The benefits outweigh the time spent, and of course, it’s great for the environment!

You may be first asking why might you compost in the first place? Not only will you get a better quality soil to plant your own fruits and vegetables with, it will result in better than average growth. In addition, it helps keep landfill volumes down. Why waste it, when you can reuse it?

My parents had this composter sitting in the backyard for the better part of the decade. It was doing just that, sitting. Nothing was being added to it, and nothing was ever inside. I decided to put it to good use. I began by adding a layer of mulched leaves at the base of the bin, crumbling them with gloves so they had broken down somewhat.

I then add other organic compounds on top of it. Think of it as a layering system. If you’re curious what can and can’t be added to your compost pile, this is a great resource to keep handy. I highly recommend bookmarking it to your browser.

The only real maintenance is turning the compost pile every two weeks or so, and not forgetting to add organic substances to the mix. Be sure that you aren’t adding just one material to the compost. You’ll need other nutrients to make the soil work to nature’s benefit.