Everyone likes to be quirky. It’s cool to be weird, right? Ever since Natalie Portman told Zach Braff, “I’m weird, man!!” in that all too quotable film, Garden State, we’ve all secretly wanted to be able to shout about our weirdness from the rooftops.
So this is my moment. Pause. Okay, I weirdly and strangely have a thing for compost. Yup, I do. Don’t get me wrong, there’s sometimes that I’m working on my compost pile and I’m thinking that it is pretty much the most disgusting thing ever and I find myself gunning for the shower as soon as possible. But wow, when compost is finished, it’s like nothing a city-dwelling gal like me has ever seen before. The black gold will keep you coming back for more, learning how to prefect the process and teaching you a good deal about how nature transforms waste into life-giving soil.
Waste is often the part of the circle that we don’t want to talk about. Who wants to think about it? Smelly, strange, disgusting. Thinking about plants popping their heads out of the ground, beautiful fruits and nutritious vegetables hanging of trees and plants, and animals happily munching on pasture… that’s all wayyy more appealing. And while every city in America sets their sights on greening their landscapes (even LA) and incorporating more of nature into our otherwise barren, and cement filled urban areas, the great waste accumulated from these cities goes into the landfill and under the radar.
But that’s the thing, a lot of it isn’t really waste. It’s a building block, actually, it’s THE building block, for a bunch of other good stuff. Namely soil all the nutrients that go into our food. Compostable material, that is, green nitrogen-based stuff (like plant and food scraps), carbon based items (like newspapers, paper, cardboard, leaves, yard clippings), and other random things that can be incorporated (eggshells, coffee grounds, animal waste) can all be turned back into the basic elements that give and nurture life. The transformation is amazing, aiding a natural process like this is nothing short of magical, not to mention totally addicting. You’ll want to compost everything in sight!
I made this compost recipe card for those of you interested in composting. Like the recipe says, you really just need a good mixture of green/brown waste, air, heat, and time. Heat and air are given by turning the pile (do it with a shovel, or if your in a bin, you just give it a spin).
Let’s talk BINS. Okay, it doesn’t have to be messy or smelly, I promise. A good compost pile covered with leaves will leave no trace of the smelly but beautiful process going on just under the process. You can do bins or you can do it in a pile in your yard somewhere. You can also build your own. I’ve composted with these bins, which leave a minimal mess, but I’ve got my eye on these bins, which I’ve noted as more appropriate for those who have little space and want maximum tidiness.
Why care? Well if you live in LA, you should know that NONE of your produce waste or yard waste goes into a compost pile. It goes right into a landfill. Those life-sustaining building blocks never get back into the soil. Why care about soil? Well I posted about America’s soil quality issues here and how the loss of topsoil is contributing to natural disasters like flooding, and contributing to low product yields, water contamination, etc. I read this morning that our current agricultural model is contributing to a 13% loss of topsoil each year. Shocking!
Anyway, you can do your part to turn what would otherwise fill up landfills, into something vital for our planet.
What do you use compost for? Feeding anything and everything that grows in the grown! Throw finished compost (which is nutrient-rich dirt), onto your garden, give a fist-full to all the plants in your house or walkway, use it around your apartment building, give it to neighbors, (I’ve even given finished compost to other gardeners, a special gift for someone with a green thumb!), or donate it to community gardens, school gardens, or local farmers. Anyone who knows what compost is will be beyond thrilled.
How long will it take? Roughly, compost can take anywhere from 2-6 months to fully finish. I’ve seen it happen in less in the summer, when it’s hot and the person composting it has been faithfully turning and aerating the pile, and longer in the winter when it takes longer for the pile to heat up and properly decompose.
Give it a try… I promise the worst thing that can happen is that it will take longer than you expected to finish up!
Good post. To be fair, Natalie Portman being weird is not only forgivable, but attractive:-) Do they have communal compost bins in apartment blocks in LA, be they public or private housing? Living in an apartment block, and composting, is it practical?
Paul
March 4th, 2009