Today's recipe is a little different but it's a good one. It's a recipe for making everything you eat more healthy and taste better, safely. It's about Composting. It's a simple behavioral change that will not only benefit you but also the World around you. (It's the right thing to do!)
We're assuming that you garden. Maybe not a full row garden but even if you do some potted gardens you can still Compost. If you look up 'How to Compost' you will no doubt get overwhelmed with articles describing a mathematical formula you need to follow exactly to get results. I'm not dismissing the science behind composting. it's all very valid. HOWEVER, you can still compost in what I call the Lazy Way, and it works. I do strongly urge you to take a free course on Composting. Most Municipalities offer free gardening classes. Here in Denver, the Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) has a GREAT 2 hour class teaching composting and vermiculture (Worms!). Best part, FREE. Their site can be found here. Looks like classes start up in April! Spring is the ideal time to start.
The basic recipe for Compost is a good balance of Carbon materials and Nitrogen Materials. Most of your food scraps from the kitchen (Greens) are Nitrogen sources while your paper products, and leaves are good sources of Carbon. (Lawn grass clippings are actually high Nitrogen sources, even when dried!). Mixing your kitchen scraps with an equal amount of Carbon products will make...DIRT. Gorgeous non-treated DIRT. Mixing this in with your potting soil or other dirt mix will grow better vegetables that have more flavor. TRUTH.
It's a commitment but even with regular neglect my compost yields a good supply every year but it takes me about a year to get a use-able batch. By being more accurate with nutrient balance, heat and moisture you can certainly do this faster.
I slack off during the Winter but when I chop vegetables I just collect them in a bin and every few days make a trip out to the Compost bin. Mine is a layered system that is at the far end of the yard near the gardens. In here I will toss, grass clippings, leaves, twigs, paper towels, shredded paper and kitchen scraps and every now and then I turn it over with a pitch fork. When I am using the hose during the Summer, I will spray the bin when I think of it. A year later and you have the perfect compost.
I have become somehow in synch with my Compost bin. It's not fast, but then neither am I these days. While not fast, it certainly gets the job done, and done well at that. We've learned to rely on each other a bit.
Again there is a perfect way to compost that I suggest you learn. When you know the rules, break them and do what works naturally for you. You'll know the details and specifics by then and develop your own way. It's worth it in the end.
