A few friends have asked about my compost. In my
vegetable garden, I am using all organic food and pesticides, which means I'm relying heavily on compost to keep my soil chock full of nutrients for my seedlings. There are a plethora of web sites and books dedicated to composting, but I've found it to be a pretty simple way to boost the health of my plants and the nutrition of the vegetables without exposing my family to dangerous chemicals. Compost also improves your soil structure, whether your soil is sandy, clayey, or depleted, compost will help it turn into that soft, black soil that plants thrive in.
I've found that composting is practically a no-brainer, its so simple and it also keeps my garbage can from filling up with things that are completely biodegradable and can go directly back to the earth.
So here are the compost basics:First you need a place to put your compost. You need a location, preferably near your garden, that is approximately 3 feet x 3 feet x 3 feet deep or larger. This is so it can heat up enough to break down adequately. Some people use bins, right now I'm just using a hole I dug in the ground.
I do not recommend using commercial "composters." We had one and it didn't work any better than a pile, and it was really inconvenient to get the compost out once it was done composting. Another option is to put your compost directly into a large black plastic bag.
Some people worry that their compost will be unsightly or smell unpleasant, you won't have any problems with smell if you are putting
the right stuff into your compost. Compost has two parts,
brown and
green.
The Green factor is going to consist of mostly kitchen scraps: onion skins, carrot ends, melon or squash rinds, potato peels...any fruit or vegetable waste you have left over after preparing a meal, with a few exceptions. You do not want to put anything that has been cooked in fat, or in any type of sauce, including syrup. Savory sauces and fats will bring rodents to your compost, which you do not want. I'm also careful not to throw anything with seeds (such as apple cores) into my compost, simply because I don't need more weeds to pull.
Green ingredients are
high in nitrogen which your plants crave and which will also help heat up your pile. Other
green ingredients are things like hair (I cut my family's hair, so the scraps go into the compost pile), egg shells, coffee grounds, feathers, and tea. Fresh grass clippings and manure are also high in nitrogen. Your compost will stink if you add anything milk, cheese or meat based to your pile, and you will draw rodents. I don't put anything in my compost that doesn't directly remember being a plant. No bread, no cereals (except plain grains such as if I spill oats or flour on the floor I will sweep it into my compost) no leftover casseroles, that stuff goes to the dog. Only plant based things go into my compost.
The
Brown factor is going to consist of (shredded) dried grass clippings, leaves, paper, cardboard, or newspaper, corn stalks, hay, corn cobs, and straw.
This adds carbon to your compost. I've been adding things like brown paper bags and paper egg cartons to my compost for an extra brown boost--paper is good because earth worms love it!
You want your compost to be approximately
half brown and half green. Typically I even out my compost with grass clippings. If I'm short on
green, I'll add fresh grass clippings to my pile. If I'm short on
brown, I'll spread out grass clipplings to bake in the sun and then once they yellow add them as a high-carbon ingredient to my heap. Having a good balance between the two colors will mean that your compost pile
will not smell bad. This is important to me.
Fill your compost bin, hole, or pile in layers, a layer of nitrogen/
green followed by a layer of carbon/
brown. If your compost pile isn't getting hot in the middle, increase the size, and add more
green stuff. You want your compost to get
hot hot hot. If you stick a digging fork into your compost and turn over a layer, it should steam. You should also see lots of earthworms. These are indicators that your compost is balanced and breaking down into black gold for your garden. If your compost is large, balanced between
green &
brown, but still not heating up, cover it with a black plastic bag so it will absorb more sunlight & heat.
Every few days to a week or so,
mix your compost pile. If you are using a heap or hole in the ground, use a shovel or digging fork to
mix & turn your pile. If you are composting in a black plastic bag, just roll it around a few times.
Every time you water your garden, water your compost. It should
always be damp inside, so give it a good once over with the hose or from your
water recycling bucket.
Finally, you will want to
rotate your compost. If you are constantly adding new material to your heap, it will never completely break down into black compost, there will always be varying degrees of composting material in your pile. Once you've built a good sized pile, you will want to let that one work (keep turning it and watering it) and start a new one with your new kitchen scraps.
Once your compost breaks down into a fine, black powder, you can add it directly to your plants frequently through the growing season and in quantity when you plant in the spring.
Your plants will thank you!
Catholic Roots, Mormon Harvest: A Story of Conversion and 40 Comparative Doctrines is the story of Eric and Marilyn Shuster, a couple who were each raised in homes filled with the richness of Catholic tradition and faith. Happy with their beliefs, they prepared to raise their family in the same practice when they unexpectedly embarked on a spiritual journey sparked an LDS family living next door. Their extensive knowledge of Catholicism--both were active life-long Catholics, and Marilyn was a former Fransiscan Nun--gave them a framework for their investigation into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as they compared and contrasted the doctrines of each religion. 
