Composting Made Easy

It takes about six months or a little longer to build a house, six months and a baby is almost born, and maybe in six months you will even have a new job or car. In six months a lot can change, but did you ever think that in six months you could have the richest soil your yard and plants could ever want?

Composting is not a new revolutionary idea and sadly it is also not an activity that many people practice. Yet, I think it is a very important and easy way to reduce the large amounts of garbage winding up in landfills. About 24 percent of food and yard materials that could have been composted make up the municipal waste in the United States each year.

My mother received a composter as a gift from my father this past Christmas. You would think she had received diamonds or pearls with the excited smile that lit up her face when she unwrapped it. My mom cares a lot about the environment and is very willing to wait those six long months in order to have fresh enriched soil that she helped to make. Are you?

Composting is not difficult and it benefits our environment immensely as it recycles food scraps including vegetable remnants and yard wastes such as leaves and shrubbery clippings. It is also important to remember to add some water to your compost pile in order to keep it moist, and to stir it up to allow it an adequate air supply, and voila! In six months you will have a delicious rich chicken soup — I mean soil!

Compost has the power to reinvigorate poor soils and even help clean up contaminated soils. In addition, the use of compost prevents the need to utilize fertilizers, pesticides and as much water. Furthermore, it also prevents the formation of harmful gases that would form in landfills if the materials were not composted. It also impedes pollutants in storm water runoff. Moreover, compost is known to stop erosion and silting in creeks, lakes, and rivers.

I think the six months are well worth the wait given the fine soil you will have as an end result. Composting is an easy way to help your environment and also to help yourself by producing your own enriched soil. You will save money in your household budget and save space at your landfill.

For further information, the Environmental Protection Agency provides a do’s and don’ts list and tips for composting here.

Photo: The author's mom's composter (photo courtesy of Kim Parry).