T – Page 247 – Crazy About Compost

World’s Best Compost… is it?

Over the holidays, I like to read as many books as possible...who doesn't? This time around, I finished reading Marilyn Manson's autobiography (he's a pure genius and if you don't like him you don't understand him), Rubbish! by William Rathje (classic) and World's Best Compost by Rod Turner. Simply put, Rod Turner is a trip. I'm near certain most people think he's a snake oil selling schemester. I don't think that's a word. Anyway, his book really got me thinking outside the box when it comes to the norms of composting. Honestly, this book kind of shook me up. My life wasn't turned upside down, but his demonstration of how to make colloidal humus as opposed to compost just seems like the way to go from here on out. But…

Compost Your Holiday!

It's that time of year where a lot of trees get cut down and posted up in living rooms across the country...woohoo! What do you end up doing with your tree when it's time to take it outside? I always remember picking the pine needles out of the carpet and stepping on them...but it was still worth the smell of a nice pine tree in the house. Anyway, christmas trees are definitely compostable. There's a pretty huge myth about adding too much pine to your compost, claiming that it will alter your soil's pH. While scientifically this may seem feasible, I have yet to hear of any horror stories and all the hardcore gardeners out there will put it in the pile no questions asked. If you can't pull it…

How to Use Recycled Paper in Compost (video)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhOza0-hFyM This is a cute video that talks about winter composting as well as putting paper in your compost. Composting paper may have been a concern back in the day when metallic inks were common, but these days soy ink is used for essentially everything...it's cheaper. Shredding paper makes a pretty big difference in how fast it breaks down, but that's the case with anything you're trying to compost. I like to shred all my "confidential" stuff and compost it instead of putting it out at the curbside. My secrets are safe with the worms.