It feels good to compost. To use up all of the yard waste, cardboard, paper, sawdust, food scraps etc. and make something that helps feed our family for FREE.

Beautiful, New Compost

Home made compost doesn’t look like what you get out of a plastic bag. It’s got more texture. It may have a few stay pieces of twigs, etc. But it’s beautiful. Dark, rich and FREE.

Home made compost seems “healthier” than what comes in a plastic bag that you’d buy at a store. Healthy compost contains beneficial microbes that combat the harmful microorganisms found in garden soil. How do microbes live in a sealed, plastic bag?

We spread our compost over all of our garden beds and around our trees and shrubs. It’s an organic food/fertilizer. It can be used as mulch. And it bolsters our soil. Look how rich it is compared to last years soil.

Adding fresh compost to our raised bed gardens.

After  adding compost to each bed, we’ll spread it out and work it into the soil. There are several schools of thought on this:

• work it in an inch or two
• rework the whole bed with the new compost (turn it all over)
• leave it on top so that the soil balance is maintained (good soil bacteria and microbes are left undisturbed.

We work our organic matter into the top layer of existing soil. That works for us with the type of soil that we have and with our climate. Regardless of the method that you choose, the compost will improve and nourish your plants.

After sharing how to build your own compost bins, I wanted you to see what the reward is…. Compost really is our first crop of the season and it will make the rest of the season that much better.

get free seeds for your garden

Seeds for Change has announced that they are giving away free, organic seeds to individuals and organizations.

Individuals:

• get 25 packs of free seeds
• pay $4.99 shipping
• delivery in 2 to 6 weeks

Organizations:

• get 100 packs of free seeds
• pay $14.99 shipping
• delivery in 2 to 6 weeks

The process is pretty straight forward, but I found a glitch in the optional comment area. It kept saying that I had weird characters within my text, but I couldn’t find any. The comments are optional, but I really wanted to include them. Seeds for Change uses some of the comments on their website and contacts some of the entrants regarding their views.  Unfortunately, I had to delete my text in order to submit my order for free seeds.

Seeds of Change sells seeds and organic foods. They are certified organic.

Here is the direct link to the free seed request form: https://seedsofchangefoods.com/sowingmillions/submitstory.aspx

They also have a nice recipe section.

Remember, one of the greenest things that you and your family can do is garden. Spread the word about these free seeds!

you can't get any greener than growing your own food

It doesn’t take a lot of room to grow a garden. It does take some planning, tending and harvesting, but it’s all good for you, inexpensive and green.

Planning a garden:

• choose a suitable spot that gets 8 hours of sun a day
• make it close to a water supply or somewhere you can run a soaker hose
• decide if you will plant directly in the ground or build raised beds (you can even use planters)
• let your family choose what they’d like to grow and eat
• ask your local garden store what grows best in your area
• buy seeds and or plants
• amend your soil with compost, lime, fertilizer (the garden store can advise you here too)
• plant as directed
• stager plantings so that everything doesn’t mature at once!

Tending to Your Garden

• Use newspaper with mulch or compost to cover the soil in between your plants (it will keep the weeds down)
• Weed once or twice a week
• Get them while they are small so they can’t spread
• Try to get the root out when you pull weeds
• I use a small hoe in between the plants – it’s easier than bending down all the time!
• Weeds come out much easier after it rains
• water if it hasn’t rained.
• water the plant at the base or use a soaker if you can, it will save water

Harvesting your crop:

• picking tomatoes, squash, etc. can be a matter of personal preference
• some plants need to be harvested in a specific manner (this information will be on the seed pack)

Raising your own food is very rewarding and is a great family activity.

eating less red meat is really green

If you’d like to lower your carbon footprint, you don’t have to go completely vegetarian. Making small changes to your family grocery list can add up:

• eat less red meat – producing beef uses energy, water and grain; cows produce methane gas; and red meat requires refrigeration and transportation;
• even eating red meat one less day a week would make a green impact (one less cow and all that)
• grow your own vegetables and fruits (you can’t get any greener than that!)
• buy vegetables from local farmers when possible
• legumes (beans, lentils and peas), are full of protein and really cheap compared to meat (no added hormones either!)

My family is trying to move to a plant based diet. We are not yet sure where we will wind up, but we know that we will be healthier and that much greener for making the effort. I will be writing more about approaching a vegetarian way of life and the challenges that we encounter along the way. As always, I hope to save money and be green at the same time.

More later.

The benefits of composting at home:

• Never waste food again. I don’t feel as bad as I used to when I discover a science experiment in our refrigerator. We don’t throw it out. We feed it to our worms!
• Compost enhances your soil with nutrients.
• Helps soil retain more water so you use less.
• Adds beneficial microbes and bacteria to your soil
• It makes the soil lighter and less compacted, which promotes drainage and plant root growth.
• It’s an easy way to be green. Your waste won’t wind up in plastic bags in the land fill.

Compost can be used in many places:

• in the vegetable garden
• in the flower garden
• mixed into the soil when planting trees
• as a mulch
• house plants
• and more

At our house, we compost in three ways:

• closed bins – used for food scraps that would draw pests if left in the open bin
• open bins – yard waste
• Vermicasting – worms!

Some people compost by dumping yard waste in large piles too, but we like the faster, more organized approach to creating garden gold.

Build your own compost bin:

make your own compost bin - drill some holes

Dark plastic bins are ideally suited for composting. Drill holes into the top and sides so that the compost can breath and take in water when it rains, but not drown it. We place food waste in the bins and keep a brick on the top to keep out pests. The dark color absorbs heat from the sun and cooks the mix faster in the cooler months. The handles make it easy to shake up the mix if you don’t want to use a shovel. One year, we used a large trash can. The compost was beautiful come spring, but it weighed a ton! The bins are more manageable.

Open compost bin

As you can see in this photo, we built our compost bin out of  left over yard pavers, some lattice and 2 by 6 wood. The pavers make a solid floor that can handle all the shoveling and turning of the compost material. The lattice lets the pile breath.  And, the 2 by 6 wood gives the bin stability and form.

We built a worm bin using similar bins and drilled air holes as in the previous example. It works okay for the worms, but I wasn’t crazy about having to separate the worms from their castings (worm poop compost). We bought a commercial worm condo which I find much more manageable. It has a faucet near the bottom of the condo where we can drain the liquid from the worm bin which is called compost tea. I use it on our house plants all year long and in the garden during the growing season.

All kinds of food and yard waste can be compost material:

• grass clippings
• small twigs
• Chipped up branches
• saw dust
• food waste (not meat or dairy)
• card board
• shredded paper (I don’t use any paper with color inks)
• leaves
• house plants that didn’t make it
• last seasons garden plants

Beautiful, black gold - compost.

Composting yard and kitchen waste is the green thing to do and saves us money on fertilizers and saves space in our landfills. It can be used instead of traditional mulch (which actually robs your plants of nutrients). And, you”ll feel less guilty that something turned into a science experiment because it won’t go to waste (you know what I mean!).