Composting can be done anywhere any size from municipal and commercial windrows processing thousands of tons annually to a ½ gallon under the sink worm farm in Manhattan. Composting helps eliminate garbage, reduces our carbon footprint, and nourishes our soil. May is a great time to get your compost going. The first blooms of spring are wilting and ready to be trimmed. Folks are cleaning up winter yard waste outdoors and all the vegetable scraps of summer are just around the corner. While you are setting you your bin imagine this:
Great corn husks and tomato peels, basil stems and potato eyes left over from summer feasts recycled into more feasts in years to come! What if the secret to your amazing sauce is the incredible soil that the tomatoes are grown in? OK so if you are an apartment dweller the food scraps may end up becoming begonias or African violets instead. (My avid gardener-composter-parents were considering moving, my Mom said she wouldn’t go without her top soil!) Get the kids involved. Apples and bananas are more appealing when they come with a trip to the worm bin at the end of the meal.
Need help getting started? Check out Westchester Master Composters:
http://redwrigglerz.blogspot.com
Cornell Cooperative Extension is always willing to guide you through the basics:
http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/westchester/
Once composting became part of my food preparation ritual I began to value my veggie peelings. I began to think of them more like a commodity. All that biomass could end up becoming great food again, or it could clog a landfill, or it could cost us money by cooling the burn at the local waste to energy plant.
