Earthworms, when you think about it, are incredible: They’ll eat your food scraps and transform them into compost. How cool is that?
Have you ever considered composting?
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It might be a fun project if you have some time on your hands lately, if you’ve ever wondered about the process, or you’ve just always wanted to get started but you didn’t know how.
We’ll tell you all the things.
Or more specifically, Leah Penniman, a farmer at Soul Fire Farm and the author of “Farming While Black,” will fill you in. She was featured on a recent episode of “The Best Advice Show,” a podcast that offers quick episodes -- we’re talking less than 5 minutes, with most around 2! -- and we loved what she had to say about composting.
“Black gold,” as it’s sometimes called, has so many benefits to the soil and the food system.
It can improve the texture of your soil, add moisture, prevent erosion and make it nearly impossible for plants to die in a drought, if you have enough compost.
Compost can even stabilize toxins, such as lead, in the soil, when used appropriately.
If you have a yard or an outdoor space, you can build a compost bin out of four wooden pallets, and then tie them together at the corners.
You’ll put an equal, even amount of browns and greens in your compost pile.
Greens are things like vegetable and food scraps, weeds from your garden and grass clippings. You’ll cover those with your browns, which consist of carbon-rich materials such as hay, straw, wood chips, newspaper or cardboard (without any tape or staples).
You add to the bin until it’s full, then let it rest for about six months.
There are ways to make the process go a little faster, if you’d like.
If you don’t have a backyard, or even an outdoor space, that’s no problem. You can still compost.
All you need is a plastic bin that’s between 10-20 gallons.
Penniman will tell you exactly what you need in the podcast episode included above, along with all the things you do and don’t want to feed your worms.
Need some worms?
You can order them online here.
Basically, you feed the bin, the earthworms eat the food and their castings are this rich, dark compost. Penniman’s tips will help you get started. Here’s another link you might find helpful.
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