Sister's Choice Quilts

My interests are quilting, reading, cooking, family, decorating, and matters of style. I post regular quilting tutorials and book reviews of current fiction.

Composting for the urban farmer

I would have prefered diamonds, but this is pretty good too… The Wine Maker finished putting my composter together, and it really doesn't make for exciting photography. However, it does make great dirt in 4 to 6 weeks. What's the point you ask? Well, compost creates a food source for a selection of life that keeps your
soil healthy. From worms to tiny microorganisms, these creatures feed on
biodegradable matter and produce soil-enriching waste. Composting makes sense for us because we have chicken manure and spoiled feed that we can use along with our regular household debris, minimizing our the overall waste we produce as a family. 

Black-and-White-Stripe-Bowls_F1628DA4

Has anyone seen "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" with Anne Burrell? She keeps a garbage bowl out on the counter for scrap cuttings and waste. She calls it her 'thank-you-for-coming' bowl. We've adopted this practice in our own kitchen when we cook, mine is pictured above (it came from my aunt Kate and Crate & Barrel), then walk outside to the composter and dump in our papertowls, onion skins and pistachio shells. Here is a groovy list of things you can compost, but maybe never knew you could!

More soon, I've got to get to work, get dressed and look after a sick chicken…

-Sara

18 responses to “Composting for the urban farmer”

  3. Worm composting was fun – while we did it. We used to tell friends and family that they were our pets.

  4. Worm composting was fun – while we did it. We used to tell friends and family that they were our pets.

  5. Sara, a few years ago I lived on a farm and I had a small bucket next to the sink that I called the “duck bucket”. Because I used to dump it daily out in the orchard, and the chickens and ducks would feast on what they wanted and the rest got disked in by the tractor into the field. So I was composting before composting was popular and on a much larger scale. (I had 4 kids and lots to fill the bucket)

  6. Sara, a few years ago I lived on a farm and I had a small bucket next to the sink that I called the “duck bucket”. Because I used to dump it daily out in the orchard, and the chickens and ducks would feast on what they wanted and the rest got disked in by the tractor into the field. So I was composting before composting was popular and on a much larger scale. (I had 4 kids and lots to fill the bucket)

  7. I love it, a Duck Bucket! I am slightly concerned that I’m robbing tasty treats from my chickens by putting most everything in the composter, but they also get their fair share of apples….

  8. I love it, a Duck Bucket! I am slightly concerned that I’m robbing tasty treats from my chickens by putting most everything in the composter, but they also get their fair share of apples….

  9. Hi Sara!
    Ah, diamonds …!
    We have a few acres in Virginia and got a Cyclone Rake that chops the yard debris as you mow. One place in the woods is for that composting and we’re mindful not to be close to the trees. I was astonished to find that even in the dead of winter, the compost pile was warm and steamy when you put a shovel into it. Science in your own yard – how cool is that?! It also makes stellar soil, of course. Thanks for the link to that interesting and helpful list!
    Cheers!

  10. Hi Sara!
    Ah, diamonds …!
    We have a few acres in Virginia and got a Cyclone Rake that chops the yard debris as you mow. One place in the woods is for that composting and we’re mindful not to be close to the trees. I was astonished to find that even in the dead of winter, the compost pile was warm and steamy when you put a shovel into it. Science in your own yard – how cool is that?! It also makes stellar soil, of course. Thanks for the link to that interesting and helpful list!
    Cheers!

  13. I compost with worms, add many of the things on the list regularly. One that is missing is the ‘gunk’ from the vacuum cleaner. I have a bag-less vacuum. Worms think that stuff is just divine *s*

  14. I compost with worms, add many of the things on the list regularly. One that is missing is the ‘gunk’ from the vacuum cleaner. I have a bag-less vacuum. Worms think that stuff is just divine *s*

  15. Hi Sarah.When I was little my grandparents had A huge Bricked off area in their garden it was called the muck midden it was for all the compost and the fruit and veg they grew was so nice all the farmers in Scotland had one.I hope your sick chicken gets well soon.
    Hugs Mary.

  16. Hi Sarah.When I was little my grandparents had A huge Bricked off area in their garden it was called the muck midden it was for all the compost and the fruit and veg they grew was so nice all the farmers in Scotland had one.I hope your sick chicken gets well soon.
    Hugs Mary.

  17. That is quite a ‘groovy list’…I would have never known! Best wishes to your chicken. I hope it is feeling better.

  18. That is quite a ‘groovy list’…I would have never known! Best wishes to your chicken. I hope it is feeling better.