In past centuries people grew or wildharvested most or all of their food. Then they put their food scraps back into the soil. This returned nutrients to Earth and built up their soil base so that their culinary gardens grew amazingly well.

 

These days most people are disconnected from growing food. They purchase their food from stores, then go about the toxemian practice of throwing their food scraps into the trash, which gets taken to a landfill – where it is mixed with all sorts of toxic substances. Then, if people want to grow a garden they often use synthetic chemical fertilizers to feed the plants. This practice is a double-edged sword. Not only are they depleting the soil by not returning the plant and food scraps to the soil, which feeds the beneficial bacteria and fungi, they also are poisoning the land and their bodies with chemical fertilizers made from fossil fuel substances that are known to cause cancer, birth defects, learning disabilities, and other health problems. Large amounts of fertilizers end up in underground aquifers, and in rivers, lakes, and oceans, where they cause damage to the environment and waterlife.

 

Plants that are grown in weak soil are not as hardy as they would be if they had been grown in nutrient-rich soil containing healthful amounts of bacteria and fungi. Plants grown in weak soil also are more susceptible to infestation. To deal with that issue people use pesticides and insecticides that are designed to kill living things. Pesticides, fungicides, and insecticides are toxic to humans, pets, and wildlife, and damage beneficial soil organisms.

 

Ideally, in addition to households, all restaurants and food stores would return vegetable food scraps to the land, and not send them to trash dumps. In 1007, the city of New York estimated that compostable food scraps made up 16% of the city’s trash. On a national level, about 13% of U.S. trash consists of compostable food scraps.

 

There are many ways of composting food scraps. These include under-the-sink worm composting containers, outdoor compost bins, and compost pits dug into the ground.

 

Lately, there have been many people in cities getting into composting their food scraps by using ventilated worm bins, or “worm condos.” These are containers containing hundreds of worms and that are kept under the kitchen sink, in a cabinet, or in an out-of-the way area of the home. This is known as “vermicomposting,” and the worms that are used eat about half their body weight every day. As the worms consume the food scraps, which are often mixed with shredded newspaper lightly misted with water, the “worm casting” are what make up the compost, which can then be used in potted plants, in gardens, or spread among landscaping.

 

One family I know that uses an indoor worm composting system uses the worm castings to grow their wheatgrass for juicing, and their sunflower and bean sprouts that they use in salads. After they have harvested the wheatgrass and sprouts, they put the soil back into the worm bin along with more kitchen scraps.

 

When composting indoors, it is especially important to keep bread, dairy (milk products), oil (including lard and vegetable oils), and meat (including fish and fowl) out of the compost bin. Strictly include veggie waste scraps consisting of vegetables, fruits, berries, seeds, and nuts, and shredded, uncoated paper, such as newspaper (no  wax- or plastic-coated papers).

 

Some cities have community gardens that accept food scraps for their compost bins. Check with your city to find out if they offer this option.

 

Where I live, we burry our kitchen scraps about once a week by simply digging a hole, tossing in the scraps, and covering them with dirt. Once the container we use for the scraps is emptied, it is rinsed out, and we start all over again.

 

I have found that I need to burry the scraps beneath at least a foot of soil to keep the raccoons and possums from digging them up. Over the years, as the soil has improved from the composting, it has become easy to dig holes two or three feet deep.

 

Composting our kitchen scraps has greatly improved the condition of the soil. The ground was once hard, sandy, and difficult to dig. It is now moist and rich and holds onto moisture. When I first began composting here, there were no worms to be found. Worms are now everywhere in the soil. Composting the kitchen scraps this way also has fed the good bacteria and fungi in the soil, which is excellent for growing edible plants.

 

The soil has also improved in areas where we haven’t buried compost, this is because the beneficial bacteria and fungi feeding on the compost has spread into nearby soil.

 

This soil rich in worms has also attracted more birds to nest in surrounding trees as they feed the worms to their young.

 

Sometimes random plants sprout from the composting pits, such as melon, tomato, and bean vines, which I’ve transplanted to places where they can grow – which results in more homegrown organic food.

 

When soil rich in bacteria and fungi is added to potted plants, the plants grow better as it is the microorganisms in the soil that help the plant roots to absorb nutrients.

 

Although I already had an understanding of the importance of fungi in garden soil, I didn’t really understand how composting was improving the soil until I heard what Paul Stamets had to say about composting.

 

According to Stamets, the guy who knows a lot about the fungus among us (check him out on YouTube.com), “Fungi are the mycomagicians of nature, in that they create soil (out of rock). And so engaging these fungi – if everyone individually began to compost, began to grow their own food, began to localize their use of resources and reinvest literally in their backyards as standard practice throughout the world, then I think that would create a big difference. People may not realize we are more closely related to fungi than we are to any other kingdom. We separated from fungi about 650 million years ago. We exhale carbon dioxide; so do fungi. We inhale oxygen, so do fungi.”

 

Knowing that plants absorb carbon dioxide that we exhale, it only seems reasonable to assume that the carbon dioxide that the fungi in the soil exhales is helping to feed the roots of the plants. So... adding the nutrient-rich kitchen scraps to our garden soil will help spur the growth of fungi, which, as Stamets points out, “digest nutrients through fine, web-like cells called mycelium.”

 

It is known that fungi help to decontaminate soil. So, nurturing the soil with kitchen scraps improves the fungi growth, which benefits your soil in a variety of ways.

 

According to Stamets, fungi can help detoxify soil that has been treated with farming chemicals: “We can use these fungi for breaking down hydrocarbon-based contaminates like oil, which most pesticides are based upon. We can break down PCBs, PCPs, dioxin, and lots of other recalcitrant toxins that kill life. These fungi can not only neutralize them, but also make them into fertilizer that breeds life. Fungi are the gateway species that leads to ecosystems re-flourishing.”

 

Those who live in regions where it snows, and/or where the ground freezes during the winter months, will need their outside winter composting system to consist of a bin, or to have a compost pile that is covered by a weighted tarp. Throughout the winter, the compostable kitchen scraps can be tossed into the bin, or under the tarp. As the cold temperature months pass, the warmer temperatures of the spring months will speed up the microbial activity, causing the scraps to decompose. This is especially true with a compost pile covered by a tarp, which will trap the solar heat. As the compost pile warms, the worms will also become active in consuming the kitchen scraps.

 

Many coffee cafes will give you their used coffee grounds, which make an excellent coverage for compost piles. This also provides a way to prevent coffee grinds from going to landfills and garbage dumps.

 

In addition to improved soil conditions, another benefit of composting has been that we produce very little trash. We recycle nearly everything possible (glass, plastic metal, and paper) and have greatly reduced purchasing items that contain packaging. We produce about three bags of trash per year, and much of that consists of biodegradable materials that we can’t put in our compost. Some of the trash also consists of junk mail that is on coated paper that can’t be composted or recycled (and, yes, we have tried everything we know of to try to stop junk mail from arriving… but nothing seems to stop it).

 

Things that are good to include in your outdoor compost:

• Leftover and/or expired and/or rotting and/or scraps and peels of fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts (no produce labels or stickers)

• Egg and nut shells

• Coffee grounds

• Tea bags

• Weeds, leaves, and bark

• Grass and plant trimmings

• Wood chips, sawdust

• Wood ashes (no plastics)

• Old bread, rolls, muffins, cookies, and crackers (no icing)

• Tissues and paper towels

• Shredded paper and uncoated paper (no plastic or wax coated paper)

• 100% natural fibers (cotton, hemp, bamboo) cut into pieces

• Nut butters are okay, but no dumping of vegetable oils (no: olive oil, corn oil, canola oil, flax oil, etc., but foods containing them are okay.)

 

Things to keep out of your compost:

• Pet waste

• Meat, poultry, and fish

• Bones, animal fat, and oil (lard, expired oils: corn, canola, olive, etc.)

• Dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt, keifer, and creamer)

A separate burying pit of at least three feet deep can be maintained to burry these items. A weighted, secure lid should be kept over the pit to avoid attracting wildlife, such as raccoon, bear, and possum. It is good to cover these items in the pit with ash, landscape clippings, soil, and/or coffee grinds to keep them from becoming an insect breeding ground.

 

These should be taken to a recycle center

• Plastic

• Glass

• Metal

 

These should be kept out of the compost:

• Branches (over 1/2" diameter)

• Crab or Bermuda grass

• Diseased plants

• Weeds that have gone to seed

 

Things to be disposed of by taking them to a toxic waste disposal station:

• Chemical pesticides, insecticides, and fertilizers (don’t even purchase them!)

• Paints, varnishes, finishes

• Engine oils

• Chemical cleaners (use biodegradable cleaners)

• Light bulbs, especially compact fluorescent bulbs

• Batteries

• Electronics

BioCycle, http://www.biocycle.com

Eco•Cycle, http://www.EcoCycle.org/compost

 

How To Compost, http://www.HowToCompost.org

 

US Composting Council, http://www.CompostingCouncil.org