Read Do It Gorgeously: How to Make Less Toxic, Less Expensive, and More Beautiful Products Online
Authors: Sophie Uliano
Do It Gorgeously: How to Make Less Toxic, Less Expensive, and More Beautiful Products (45 page)
3.
Begin adding your kitchen scraps. Between every few layers of scraps, add 2 or 3 handfuls of sawdust, which you can buy from most pet stores and hardware stores with nurseries.
COMPOST TIPS
- Turn your compost with a garden fork or stick every 2 weeks, to ensure the whole pile is oxygenated.
- If the compost becomes too dry (it should look slightly damp), add 2 or 3 cups of water, depending on size of your bin.
- If your compost starts to smell, you may need to add more sawdust. You can also add a cup of baking soda to every layer.
- Remember that making compost is like making a lasagna—
you have to layer
with brown matter (sawdust, soil/dirt, leaves, garden clippings, torn-up newspaper), and green matter (veggie scraps). You can also add bread and pasta (no oil or butter), coffee grounds, tea bags, paper towels, and anything that is biodegradable. - Remember that you cannot add meat, fish, bones, dairy, pet waste, or anything that is covered with grease to your compost bin.
Worm Bin
A fantastic way to take composting to the next level is to create a worm bin. The worms will speed up the process by digesting the scraps and eliminating sweet-smelling compost. You can easily create an indoor worm bin. Worm-composting bins can be expensive to buy, so have a go at making your own.
YOU WILL NEED
1 old plastic tub, bucket, or container with a tight-fitting lid
*- Drill
- Fine wire mesh
- Duct tape
- Old newspaper
- Soil
- 1 to 2 lbs. red wiggler worms (available from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm, www.unclejimswormfarm.com)
HOW TO
1.
Take the lid off your container and drill 12 ½-inch holes evenly all over the lid.
2.
Cut a 1-inch square of wire mesh for each hole you’ve drilled. With the underside of the lid facing up, cover each hole with the mesh and tape down all 4 sides with duct tape.
3.
Drill 4 or 5 holes in the bottom of the container and repeat the hole/screening process.
4.
Fill the bottom of the container with a couple of inches of torn-up newspaper. Add 3 inches of soil and then add your worms.
5.
Place the whole container on a tray with a lip, so you can collect the “worm tea,” which will drip out of the container and can be used for fertilizing houseplants.
6.
Once you’ve added your worms, give them about 4 days to settle in before you add food.
7.
It will take 3 or 4 months for the vermicomposting (that means compost made by worms) process to take place.
HARVESTING YOUR WORM COMPOST
The first thing you can harvest is the worm tea, which will gather in the tray that your bin sits on. When it becomes full, you can either remove the tray and carefully take it outside and empty it into a bucket, or you can use a turkey baster to suck up the liquid and transfer it to a jug. This “tea” is the most potent fertilizer imaginable. Keep it in an old plastic bottle and give to a green-thumbed friend, or use in your own garden.
HOW TO
1.
When you think you’ve got enough compost to harvest (it just looks like potting soil), start to feed your worms only on one side of your bin for a week.
2.
Get a large trowel and carefully scoop out the compost from the side of the bin opposite where your veggie scraps were last buried. Scoop the compost into a bucket or a large black trash bag.
3.
Alternatively, you can dump out all the contents of the bin onto a large plastic sheet. Direct a bright light to the top of the pile. The worms are photosensi
tive and will crawl away from the light to the bottom of the pile so that you can scrape off the top layers of compost.
HOW TO FEED THE WORMS
• Red wiggler worms will transform the following scraps into compost: vegetables, fruits, eggshells, tea bags, coffee filters, and shredded paper towels.
• Don’t feed them any citrus fruits, as they’re too acidic.
• You should never add meat, fish, or oily foods.
• A layer of food scraps
must
be covered with a layer of bedding (shredded newspaper or paper towels) to eliminate odor.
• Do not add more food scraps until you see that the previous ones have been eaten.
• It’s best to cut up food scraps into very small pieces.
• When adding your food scraps, mentally divide your bin into six squares. Bury the first load of scraps in the first square, then move on to the second square for your next load, and so on. This method will ensure that one area gets composted by the time you get back to square one.
• Be patient with your worms. Sometimes they take a while to get settled in and happy. The optimal temperature for their comfort (and don’t forget, they’re guests in your home!) is between 50 and 84°F. That means an outside patio or balcony in midwinter is a no.
