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Are You Collecting Leaves for the Winter Yet?

I get asked pretty often about how to compost leaves quickly- now is the time to focus on collecting them to get you through the colder months. As you can see, my compost bin is only halfway full at the moment, and that's after I swept the sidewalk and threw in what I could. If you toss them in your compost pile as is, they will take longer to fully break down...but that's OK- I don't feel like doing any extra work right now. Once I collect 4-5 full bags' worth of fall leaves from around the block, then I'll break out my favorite noisy, clunky leaf shredder. I will be able to make that all those leaves fit into one nice and neat trash can to be used as…

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Is Compost the Secret to Making Ag Climate Friendly? (article)

By Rachel CernanskyClimate, ENVIRONMENT, FARMINGOriginally found here: https://civileats.com/2019/09/17/is-compost-the-secret-to-making-ag-climate-friendly/ This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. It’s no secret that organic farmers believe in compost, but just what role compost plays in soil’s ability to store carbon—and keep it out of the atmosphere, where it contributes to climate change—has been less clear. A recent study out of the University of California, Davis suggests that compost plays a larger role than once thought in building soil carbon. It also found that carbon levels fluctuate more in deeper soil than most evaluation methodologies tend to account for. In practical terms, the findings could mean compost has been undervalued by agricultural incentive programs, and that we’ve been…

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