Compost as the Heart of a Homestead – Epi-3598
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Today we discuss a variety of composting methods and making composting the core of your homestead activities.
Often people say what is the best method. Well that as always is an it depends. Bioreactor composting is my gold standard but it takes a year to make and a certain volume of materials as well. There are other methods and they all have valid results. In fact it is often a great idea to use multiple composts in making teas, extracts and slurries along with other application methods.
In the end though composting can be the core of daily life on a homestead. Most of making it comes down to very little work, just making sure conditions are right. Worms are not over fed, compost doesn’t dry out, etc. Every day we humans produce large amounts of waste products, from apple cores to veggie scraps to yard waste and everything in between. By having systems in place to make sure it all ends up as soil in the end we follow several permaculture principles.
The four most obvious are…
- Catch and store energy
- Produce no waste
- Obtain a yield
- Use and value resources
From that point we should think about designing our lifestyle so composting is as much a habit as morning coffee, making dinner or a daily walk in the garden. All of which you will see, help us make more compost.
Today we cover these 10 composting methods…
- Why there really isn’t a “best” way to compost but there is a “best result”
- Direct Composting (Pit, Trench & Lasagna)
- Conventional High Turn Compost
- Vermicompost
- Black Solider Fly Compost
- Leaf Mold Composting
- Tumbler Composting
- Static Pile Continuous Compost
- Forced Air Static Pile Compost
- Effective Microorganism Compost (Bokashi)
- Bioreactor Compost
- Using Biochar takes it to the next level, actually helping compost break down faster
- Integration into your daily life, here is what we do, think about your own system
- All waste goes to either the worms or the pit for the birds to pick though
- Worms get the best scraps and a dose of biochar with all additions
- Biochar also goes in collection containers, to keep liquid and stink down
- All pit compost eventually goes into a bioreactor with coop waste
- When we add a bale or two of straw or a couple wheelbarrows of chips to the coop, a bucket of biochar goes in as well
- Finished compost is stored in a “storage reactor” to stay full of O2 and moist
- Compost is used as teas, extracts, bed topping and to make potting soils
- Even the dogs get char in their food a few times a week.
- If you have a cat, consider “feline pine” with about 10-15% char as your litter
- Methods I want to add or make a regular thing but I don’t do yet or all the time
- BSL compost
- Bokashi
- Infusing existing methods with EM, Bokashi, LAB, etc.
- Final thoughts – be fearless and make compost, our course on Bioreactor Compost will teach you more than you can even imagine
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Video Version of Today’s Show
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Chapters and Chapter Summaries Provided by PodSnacks – Full Outline and Transcript is Available at This Link
- Chapter 1: Why Composting is the Heart of a Homestead (00:00 – 13:13) – An overview of why composting should be at the core of a homestead’s activities. Composting allows you to turn waste into a valuable resource, reduce your environmental impact, and obtain high-quality compost for your garden. The chapter discusses how composting aligns with key permaculture principles like catching and storing energy, producing no waste, and obtaining yields.
` - Chapter 2: Composting Methods Compared (13:14 – 42:11) – A detailed comparison of various composting methods, including direct composting, conventional high-turn compost, vermicomposting, black soldier fly composting, leaf mold, and tumbler composting. The pros and cons of each method are discussed, highlighting how they can be integrated to create an optimal composting system.
` - Chapter 3: Accelerating Composting with Biochar (42:12 – 51:41) – An exploration of using biochar to enhance the composting process. Biochar helps retain moisture, increase microbial activity, and produce higher-quality compost more quickly. The chapter explains how to incorporate biochar into different composting methods.
` - Chapter 4: Integrating Composting into Daily Life (51:42 – 1:12:26) – Advice on making composting a habitual part of one’s daily routine, rather than a separate task. The chapter discusses how the host integrates composting into his own household, including using worms, a compost pit, and layering biochar into animal bedding. It also covers using compost extracts and teas, and mixing compost into potting soil.
` - Chapter 5: The Host’s Composting System (1:12:27 – 1:28:18) – The host shares details about his own composting setup, including using a bioreactor system as the “heart” of his homestead. He emphasizes the importance of being “fearless” in composting and not getting overly concerned about doing everything perfectly. The chapter concludes with a message to just get started and improve over time.
It seems like the Johnson-Su bioreactor is really similar to the Back to Eden method. It is just that with Back to Eden you just put a bit under a foot of arborist wood chips right on the ground where you are going to garden. All these no till methods seem fairly similar. Like, cover cropping, back to eden, Ruth Stout, or putting a layer of compost on top every year, etc. Yes, there are nuances to it all but they are still fairly similar. I recently watched a video where a guy just puts 8 inches of leaves down every year – which is was Ruth Stout did, but she did it with hay.
So, that is what I’m trying out this year. A foot or two of leaves (I know a landscaper that is giving it to me for free) with some wood 6 inches below the soil and I’ll throw down food scraps under the leaves during the winter. I know of one guy that lives close to me here in the high altitudes of AZ that does back to Eden and says it takes 3 years to get full production out of it.
Here’s to experimenting!
Sorry no, I don’t even consider Back to Eden a method, it is a technique, use compost and mulch with wood chips.
It works but it doesn’t do what Johnson-Su does, it simply can’t do so.
It is more accurately a form of Direct Composting, a lite version but yep.
You are doing lasagna gardening, and that is great but it is also what you are doing.
I’ve been watching I AM ORGANIC GARDENING and he’s doing a great job telling what exactly Back to Eden is. So, between your comment and his I think I understand the difference and why cover cropping is needed.
Thanks for you explanation in helping me understand the differences!
Jack has mentioned many times, including in this podcast, that compost worms are eating the microorganisms which are breaking down the decaying food waste, and not eating the food waste themselves.
This seems suspect, as avocados in my worm bin are full of worms quickly eating the avo flesh.
Also, ChatGPT confirms worms are getting calories from both food waste and the microorganisms they eat.
ChatGPT gets a lot wrong.
https://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/do-worms-eat-microbes-or-wastes-or-both/
That is pretty accurate and acknowledges that sure they may get some nutrition from material in the slurry but mostly it is microbes and their waste. They are all over the avocados because so are the microbes. Have you ever seen a video showing a worm actually eating a scrap? Not a time lapse of it happening over hours, just up close the worm is actively taking “bites” out of an avocado?
If so post a link.