Night Soil

We stay away from composting human manure. (No safe place for it on an urban farm) But I know some folks that swear by it as a great way to create more compost for plants and keep waste out of the waste streamline.

Here is a great article on another person discovery "Is it safe to compost human waste" on NPR

 

Congrats San Fran!

With the help of Recology, San Francisco reaches one million tons composted!

 

Check it our here!

Choosing your seed starter soil

After a long winter, we always dream of soil and seedlings.

It makes those last cold weeks a lot easier here!

When choosing your soil for seed starters, remember the importance of worm castings. Look at the ingredients and sustainability in soil mixes. Instead of choosing peat moss (its takes over a life time to replace), choose coconut coir and worm castings. Why? Coir is a waste product and worm castings won't burn your seedlings. Plus they add lots of nutrients and goodies to help them grow strong!

Natures most complete plant food!

Global Warming Survival Handbook

Finally a Global Warming book with a sense of humor. Not that its a light hearted topic but sometimes something is so heavy you have to be light about it. But this book has serious options.

the Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook has some great tips for adding green and energy smart choices to your daily life. Everything from greening your workspace, knowing your farmers, eating more veggies, and buying carbon offsets.

Scioto Gardens July 17th -Join us!

Dont forget to join us for the Scioto Gardens 4th Annual event on July 17th! All day workshops and music! More info here

Workshops for summer 2010

Hard to believe summer is almost here! We have updated our workshop list for this summer. If you would like to set up a community composting workshop let us know, we can come and share about worm composting and traditional composting.

We love to help you heal the earth!

Also, Come see us at the Eco Chic Craftacular this weekend! May 22-23 rain or shine!

Should I have my soil tested?

If you're worried about the condition of your soil before you plant your garden this spring, you may want to have it tested. many people who live closer to the city have found surprising levels of lead and metals in their soil. It is one of many things to consider. And just because you buy new soil from the store, DOES NOT make it safe. You can visit this blog for more of this blogger story of what she found in store bought soil.

I will tell you that worm castings are a easy and proven effect way of "cleaning" your dirt. Mixing the castings in makes a huge difference.

Last winter I showed you the picture of potting soil on the left and worm castings on the right, what a big difference! There are several soil testing labs in Ohio if you are interested.

attention Facebook fans!

Share the worm love!

Suggest to your facebook friends they should become fans of One20farm! share on this post that you did and you will be entered to win a free pound of worm castings as a thank you! Do so before March 9th and we will announce the winner on March 10th! Spread the word!

How to speed up Compost

I found a nice blog that reminds me that composting IS a process. (I love the word process)

One of the biggest problems with outdoor bin composting is that it isn't a particularly fast process. This can be a little frustrating if you want that compost quickly in the spring to put it on plants. But there are some things you can do to speed up the process of composting.

They talk about several things to consider. One is look at the size of food you put in the compost. chop up large things like potatoes or banana peels and even crush up the egg shells. This helps the food break down faster.

Another thing they mention is that worms faster. Yes, they say worms compost 3 times faster the the standard outdoor bin method. those little guys are on a happy mission. I have started to freeze my food scraps in a large freezer bag, I smash things up once I put them in the bag, then bag in the freezer. When the worms need fed, I grab out 2 cups per bin, let it thaw and put it in. the freezing actually starts the breaking down process of the food, making the job that much easier and quicker for the worms. How cool is that.

little critters in your worm bin part 3

As we have talked about before, the food scraps you add to a worm bin today, isn't really touched by worms until at least several days later. The food has to start to break down first. How long depends on how quickly a population of microbes can begin to decompose that material, and make it ready for worms to consume. The frustrating part is a great variety of food waste harbors fruit fly eggs, which hatch quickly in the bin. They are actually a good sign of a healthy bin. But can be reduced, but that is for another blog.

If we could only encourage worms to start eating that food waste right away, before most of the flies are born. Actually, we can do this! Just let food waste develop this microbial population before it goes in the bin. If you collect food waste in a counter top food scrap container, try this:
1. cover the container with a towel (to prevent fruit flies from pestering you) and let it sit indoors for a week. For an even better start, sprinkle finished compost or vermicompost directly onto the food waste as you toss it into the food scrap tub.

2. freeze your food scraps until needed. let them thaw out, then put them in your worm bin. This reduces fruit flies and the freeze/thaw also breaks down the food faster. Thus, encouraging the worms to dig in quicker!

What CAN I compost?

I got this great list from our friends at Little Square Farm. Enjoy!

75 things you probably didn't know you could compost
... but you can!
>From the Kitchen
Coffee grounds and filters
Tea bags
Used paper napkins
Pizza boxes, ripped into smaller pieces
Paper bags, either ripped or balled up
The crumbs you sweep off of the counters and floors
Plain cooked pasta
Plain cooked rice
Stale bread
Paper towel rolls
Stale saltine crackers
Stale cereal
Used paper plates (as long as they don't have a waxy coating)
Cellophane bags (be sure it's really Cellophane and not just clear plastic—there's a difference.)
Nut shells (except for walnut shells, which can be toxic to plants)
Old herbs and spices
Stale pretzels
Pizza crusts
Cereal boxes (tear them into smaller pieces first)
Wine corks
Moldy cheese
Melted ice cream
Old jelly, jam, or preserves
Stale beer and wine
Paper egg cartons
Toothpicks
Bamboo skewers
Paper cupcake or muffin cups
>From the Bathroom
Used facial tissues
Hair from your hairbrush
Toilet paper rolls
Old loofahs
Nail clippings
Urine
100% Cotton cotton balls
Cotton swabs made from 100% cotton and cardboard (not plastic) sticks
>Personal Items
Cardboard tampon applicators
Latex condoms (It might be a good idea to bury these items in your pile).
>From the Laundry Room
Dryer lint
Old/stained cotton clothing—rip or cut it into smaller pieces
Old wool clothing—rip or cut it into smaller pieces
>From the Office
Bills and other documents you've shredded
Envelopes (minus the plastic window)
Pencil shavings
Sticky notes
Business cards (as long as they're not glossy)
Receipts
>Around the House
Contents of your vacuum cleaner bag or canister
Newspapers (shredded or torn into smaller pieces)
Subscription cards from magazines

Commercial Composting part 2

Another great example of a city doing commercial food composting!

Quick plastic composters; 2 cents

Here is an example of plastic quick composters. They are great, and quick to make. The draw back is they are hard to keep at a good level of moisture. There is no where for the moisture to go to. So they can easily get to moist or too wet, drowning your worms. Wood bins are good because they absorb the extra moisture, cloth bins are even better because any extra can drain down or be soaked into the cloth.

Checking on the cloth bin

I was checking on our cloth worm composting bin last week.
I noticed the Indian corn I put in there was sprouting!

Nice moist environment, happy sprouting space. the worms were breaking things down nicely, I have to add some more water. not a lot though. that is the nice thing about the bags, you can't really over water them because it will just run out the bottom. But you do have to watch the moisture level closely so it doesn't dry out too much.

Found some happy baby worms, a good sign things are moving along nicely in your worm bin.