Compost and Soil Health

Compost is organic waste that has properly decomposed. It is turning food and leaves and grass back into soil. Yep - that’s all! Composting is the verb, the action of controlling the process. Compost is also the noun, as in the finished product which is gloriously healthy soil.

Proper composting means blending the right amounts of ingredients to balance the waste process. This means adding “browns” or carbons, “greens” or nitrogen sources, as well as allowing oxygen to flow and adding water from time to time.

GREENS: manure, food scraps, cut grass

BROWNS: dried leaves, cardboard, shredded newspaper, hay, straw

OXYGEN: This means turning your compost pile from time to time (to keep the stink away) OR just building it in a sense that allows air to enter from the sides and top. Carbon sources like leaves and hay are naturally structured in a way that if you add a lot of them to the pile, you’re creating airways naturally and should not need to turn as much.

WATER: Like all life forms, compost is LIVING and BREATHING. It’s the microbes in the soil doing the hard work. And these microbes need water just like us to keep going. Your compost pile should never be soaking wet, and never be dry. A healthy pile is “moist.”