Green Building~
This is such a large spectrum topic and a very important one. It also can be very complicated though it does not need to be.
One can go the route of a 1,000 sqf self built cob home or a contracted mansion. Either way it is possible to build it so that it requires no non renewable energy sources to operate. Such as water and electricity. With a well insulated home of any size it is quite possible to keep it plenty warm in almost all climates with solar alone. A wood burning stove or a solar air heater would be plenty to subsidize on an extraordinary cold stretch.
When so much of the house is efficient renewable electricity could easily be supplied to operate the other things such as computers, lights, & maybe a refrigerator. Its really impossible to compare the electrical use of a standard suburb home or business to that of an efficient sustainable home or business. SO many of the energy uses are just non existent.
All day time lighting can be provided by windows and solar tubes. Almost all heat can be provided by solar and insulation. All water can be provided via rain and efficient water use. Such as in these amazing efficient sustainable Earth Ships here. These are some of the best examples of widely made and used sustainable homes.
Hot water can mostly all be heated via the sun. This leaves a very small amount of electricity needed and that is easily applied by renewable sources.
What I really love about efficient sustainable buildings is the many levels of efficiency in play & how they all effect and enhance each other!
Take cob for example. It is all earthen materials so its possibly free or very cheap. Its totally green meaning there is no environmental impact expect for how they may be harvested but the materials them selfs are totally green. Cobb just also happens to be incredibly temperature efficient for cold or warm weather making it a desirable insulating material. While also being so strong & solid that it is one of the most earthquake resistant types of buildings there is. Cob is also sufficient load bearing! This makes things so simple. You take 4 ingredients Water, Clay, Sand, Straw, mix & build. So simple, so abundant & so efficient! Because there is no need for weight structure support one needs no frame or load bearing implementations besides the cob it self. This basically means if you can build a sand castle you can build a house. What is also really nice is that these buildings are so unique & so so beautiful. I have seen so many beautiful cob homes & so many of them are very different yet still beautiful. There are so many people with very little to no building experience that have built their own homes.
So this gives us a cheap, easy to build complete building package that is totally sustainable & BEAUTIFUL!
There are hundreds of books on cob building & lots of videos free to watch online.
Straw bale is another very simple cheap & natural building source. There are applications where it could be more ideal than cob.
To me the properties of straw bale building are not ad ideal as cob in most cases so it would come down to material availability & ease.
Straw bale is much faster than cob as you can stack straw bales on top of each other until the walls are as high as you want & this is a very fast task. Where as with cob all the cob has to be mixed. added & then dried out a bit then mixed. added etc.
The aspects of straw bale that I really love are that is is very cheap, lots of natural materials, great insulation value, fast construction process.
It is really cheap because straw bales are very cheap & in many locations totally free. There are of course other expenses as you cant just build a house with stacked straw bales. The bales mack up most of the mass though so thus are a large part of the material needed.
Straw is a very sustainable & natural building material. It grows most parts of the world, it grows with little or no maintenance, it keeps growing & its totally biodegradable. Its so cool to think that you could be growing your house if a field, that if your house were to no longer be wanted it could be composted & you could grow your garden in it! This is an awesome and exciting dynamic to me. I love sustainability.
Straw bales are great insulation. They are thick & also create really good dead space. These are two major factors in good insulation. So by building all the walls out of straw bales the house is off to a good start in being well insulated. There are other important factors of course.
When the foundation & frame are built the process of building the straw bale walls is very fast. Much faster than that of cob walls. This is nice as cob as wonderful as it is, it is very labor intensive & very time consuming.
What I don't prefer about straw bale is that one has to build a frame as straw bale walls are not load barring. I don't like the idea of building frames out of lumber as it is cut un-sustainably, processed unsustainably & transported unsustainably. This of course is not always the case as one could make ones own lumber or buy it from someone who does this sustainably. Even if it were done in a more sustainable fashion I still feel that lumber is not a sustainable building material. I don't feel that trees are worth cutting down for all the buildings that we build.
A cool alternative may be building cob load barring pillars, or stone pillars, or something salvaged. Then creating the rest of the wall out of straw bales. As with everything there are so many ways to do & it is silly to say something is not doable or not right nor worth attempting. I fully support experimentation & exploration of new possibility in all areas of life.
The other aspect of straw bale that I don't prefer is that it is susceptible to mold & such. However when done right it is not much of an issue. There are many many beautiful sustainable & long lasting straw bale homes.
To me its just not as simple as other earthen building techniques & requires more expertise. Cob on the other hand anyone can do & do it beautifully of high quality.
What it comes down to me is what resources do we have available. If we do not have clay but have lots of straw & trees for lumber. Maybe its a good idea to do a straw bale. Or if I were going to be making a large house or many houses maybe straw bale would be better as it is much faster to build.
Its all relative & what is important is weighing the factors. Finding the most efficient & sustainable path. There are many factors, depending on the location & purpose of the building.
Rammed earth homes are pretty cool. Very similar to cob though instead of wetting and building it like clay it is rammed compressed into molds the shape of the walls one wants to build.
What like about rammed earth homes is that they are made from earth. By far one of the most full spectrum sustainable materials on earth.
Great insulation & heat retention. Because the walls are solid & thick the insulation value is quite good. Also when exposed to sun it absorbs the heat of the sun and because its so thick radiates that sun throughout the whole night and recharging the next day. This factor does require some building planning as in the summer the walls need to be shaded so that it is NOT absorbing that sun during the hot summer days. In the winter the wall needs to be exposed to the winter sun so that it utilizes this benefit.
Rammed earth walls are also load bearing. This makes construction design much simpler and the materials needed less.
These type of homes can also be built very fast. There are companies that build rammed earth homes in some parts of the country that have a bunch of pre made forms, power packing machines and dirt loading machines. This makes for about the fastest possible earthen building experience. Its really cool to think that one could pay someone to build a green, efficient, sustainable home of about the highest quality, really quickly for no more than a traditional built home.
The drawbacks that I see in rammed earth homes are that unless one has the forms & machines it is very very labor intensive.
Also it is not as adaptable as cob is as far as design elements. Because it requires forms this means you have to have lots of different forms for different angels and such or the house needs to be of uniform shape. Squares & such would work very well with rammed earth homes. Where as with cob you can do curves or any angle & dimension you wish with ease.
Salvaged material homes.
Sustainability to me incorporates any trash that is used for a purpose. Anything going to the trash is waste & when that waste is utilized sustainability is at work. I do not like the idea of building a timber frame house or a steel building. However if that timber were salvaged or the steel were salvaged then YES. When I say salvaged I mean from a source that would otherwise not get used.
To be sustainable the house would also need to be well insulated, utilize passive & active solar plus other various green/efficient/renewable/sustainable aspects.
I build lots of sheds & small buildings of salvaged materials. Tin & used lumber are easy to come by. Since insulation is not an issue in most sheds it is OK.
Whenever waste can be utilized I love and support this. Its important to utilize it an efficient way whatever that may be. A free building that is not sustainable is of little use. There are however many materials that can be salvaged & integrated into buildings or other projects in an efficient abundant fashion.
Hybrids.
I love cob/strawbale homes. I love cob for its dynamic sculptur and beauty possibilities. I love it for its load bearing preformance, green material, and simple method. I love that it retains heat from the sun and has great insulation value.
Straw bale is awesome because its fast and is really good insulation on say a north wall where there is no sun to warm the exterior. So a north wall of straw bale and the rest cob would be a nice choice. Or cob building and straw bale roofing insulation. Straw bale is an awesome roof insulation because it is very light easy to get in place and great insulation value.
A partial salvaged material house with the rest of an earthen building material is also great. Maybe a salvaged roof or frame. Salvaged doors and windows. Or whatever material that is abundant and can be utilized in a building.
There are lots of options here with many factors to work with.
These are my favorite Green Building realities though there are more. As I become framilier with other possibilities I will be sure to document them here. As we at Freedom Living are exposed to more possibilities and experience we evolve as well as all those who we facilitate.
Imagine living in a house of complete sustainability built of all green materials. Imagine how great it will feel to live in and to create in this way while supporting sustainability. Imagine the unique beauty that this house would have and all the special charicturistincs it would have. Imagine all the abundance that would be integrated derived from such efficient sustainability. All the bills, maitenence and stress of a conventional home disapear.
Oh what a wonderful dream!
Imagine
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Gardening
Gardening is the bread and butter of sustainability to me. Because we are actually planting & nurturing our food source which is really the most important physical need.
Organic Gardening is so important for so many reasons.
1. Most food that we eat is not local. This means that it is being transported via trucks that run on mass amounts of oil/fuel. It means that it is transported on roads which are made from machines using mass amounts of oil. It is most likely grown on huge plots of land worked with huge machines that run on mass amounts of oil.
By localizing our food ALL of that oil/fuel is negated. That is a HUGE environmental impact. Also by localizing our food we stop taking advantage of many countries who grow food for us at very small profit and death of surrounding land.
2. ~Health~ This is a huge factor. There is very little comparison to wild crafted produce grown on ones own property & produce bought in a store organic or otherwise. We grow the best tomatoes I have ever had, I & others often say if what I buy in the store is a tomato then this is NOT a tomato. It is like that with lots of what we grow. The quality is of such a higher degree for many reasons.
Even organic produce is allowed to have up to a certain amount of different chemicals present in the food. Even a lot of organic produce is picked early & selected for reasons beside optimal health/taste.
By growing ones own produce it is possible to grow completely chemical/pesticide/herbicide & even fertilizer free! This produces produce of such great quality that when paired with fresh daily picked ripe on the plant, we get OPTIMAL food. Also a factor overlooked by many is that when we grow our OWN food the food actually grows for US based on our particular make up & needs. Meaning a plant can specifically grow to benefit us individually based on who we are! This is powerful for full spectrum health.
3. Natural~ By growing food without any pesticides, herbicide, fertilizers etc there is much less impact on the environment. There is less run off into our surrounding environment & also the factor of BUYING these products saves all the shipping distance & all the factory space that is used to produce such products.
Its really important to take into account factors besides the present obvious ones. It is obvious that a pesticide run off will effect water supply close by but it is also true that this fertilizer was made in a factory put in a bag made in another factory & shipped across the country or state to get to you. There are many levels of UN-SUSTAINABILITY in play here. By growing our own food in this way ALL of these are negated. This is HUGE!
4. ~Cost~ This is a nice benefit of growing food. It is quite easy to grow enough food for ones self/family/community. We have many systems & awarenesses that make gardening easy, abundant, & self sustaining. It really comes down to planting, harvesting, & utilizing which are all fun aspects of the process!
By growing our own food we save money on costs of food but also we have a great way to make extra income without leaving the home, doing something we are doing any ways! It is almost as easy to grow 1 acre of food as it is 1/2 acre in our situations, but the profit is twice as much. Quality produce & products are in high demand while also fetching a premium price with individuals & businesses alike. There are so many ways to utilize a garden for sustainability and profit that it is my number 1 aspect to sustainability.
So down to the details. An efficient abundant healthy garden is very much about the soil. It has been found that with really healthy soil most diseases are of no issue & the plants produce prolifically , beautiful, rich produce.
So for that, composting is a huge factor of a true sustainable garden. Read the article on *composting* here.
Most land before it gets planted is not ideal for an abundant garden. The first belief that I want to dispose of is the idea that tilling or anything like that is necessary or even beneficial. This is actually quite harmful to the harmony & balance of the earth & is detrimental to a magical healthy prolific garden. Any time the soil dries out or is exposed to the sun many beneficial nutrients are lost. There are many aspects to soil that die when dried out or exposed to the heat of sun. Tilling stimulates both of these processes. Tilling is only actually needed because of hard soil and the inhabitation of unwanted plants in the growing area. There are much more harmonized, efficient & abundant ways to achieve this.
So lets start here. You have a plot of land & you want to start a garden. What now? Most likely this land will have grass, weeds or some plant life growing that you will want to replace with produce. You want to cover the entire area to be planted with cardboard, black plastic, carpet or some other water trapping , heat trapping and dark creating substance. What this does is, kills all the grass from lack of sun & exposure to hot moist climates. This grass then decomposes into perfect nutrients for the plants to come while also getting rid of all the plants that you don't want & also keeping the soil moist and soft! I prefer cardboard for this purpose because you can just leave the cardboard & it will decompose into the soil also! This is the single most magical awareness I have come to in gardening. By negating tilling completely one saves much energy in the tilling process itself, while much energy in the process of nutrients that are SAVED & also CREATED. After this is done in the case of plastic it is wise to remove before planting, in the case of cardboard just cover it with some rich compost & then plant.
Each kind of plant will want to be planted in a different time of year & want different conditions to grow. This is a bit to detailed to get into here however almost all seeds will have planting info on them as for when to plant, what kind of area to plant, how much water & what kind of soil they prefer. These general instructions are normally quite dependable. It is also quite different for someone in Wisconsin vs someone in Texas. In places like Wisconsin that has a very short growing season it is wise to have a green house to pre start plants & although it is a great head start in a place like Texas because of the long growing season it is not necessary.
As you start to plant, space the seeds so that they have the proper space for their type of existence. Radishes can grow very close together while watermelons need quite a bit of space to grow. The packages of seeds usually say how far apart to plant etc.
Also companion planting is a very useful and highly advised practice. The way it works is that there are certain plants that help each other grow or keep away pests that bother other plants. THAT IS PERFECTION! For instance a problem for squash or melons is the squash beetle. However squash beetles dont like marigolds so planting marigolds around the squash keeps many of the beetles away. There are many plants that serve this purpose. Check out the many gardening books & even web sites have lists of companion planting combination's. Check this out before you buy seeds for the season so as you know what it is you are wanting based on what you are wanting ;-)> Then plan out the garden so that the companion plants are next to each other & the ones that don't benefit each other are away from each other.
I also recommend making a chart of plantings so as you have documentation of what grew where with what and how it did so that on next planting the chart can be consulted & enhancements made. Every year that I garden I become more efficient & proficient at utilizing the space for what is planted.
After these seeds are planted the soil needs to be moist as the roots are very small to non existent. This is why the spring is the rainy season so that the new seeds can grow with their very small ability to absorb & retain water! THAT IS PERFECTION!
Most of the time we don't want soggy or soaking soil but damp moist soil. As soon as the sprouts are above ground it is wise to ad mulch around the plants. Add at least a couple inches or mulch to the entire garden where a sprout is not coming up. This serves many purposes!
1. It keeps moisture in the soil which is important to reduce water use and time spent watering. 2. Protects the soil from the sun! This is huge as the sun is one of the leading causes for soil depletion. 3. As the wood chips sit there all year they decompose creating their own small amount of compost, there by enriching the soil!
As you integrate these aspects you can see how the need for tilling disappears. With the cardboard composting all the plant matter not wanted is gotten ride of while being utilized in a sustainable fashion and also providing a clean slate. Then the wood chips protecting the soil while also adding to it, there is very little depletion which is easily substituted in the form of compost made on site.
During the winter months one can either just cover all the land with mulch or plant an over crop. Both are good options. A couple months before planting season cardboard, carpet, plastic or some such material may be needed again to prep the ground for the fresh little seeds to have no competition or interference from unwanted plants. It is also possible to cover the land with cardboard in the winter then wood chips & the next coming spring the cardboard will be decomposed enough to grow through & there will be no plants growing in the garden space.
This is the cycle for maintaining healthy soil and plants. It is so beautiful because it is quite clear how the techniques utilized save time and energy in one way while also contributing energy in another. This is the cycle of life and the abundance of nature being utilized. As one uses cardboard to prep the ground one is saving time on tilling and also CONTRIBUTING to the soil. This process is also utilizing cardboard that is being thrown away and not utilized at all. Its also free! That is 4 levels of sustainability and abundance being utilized in 1 step. That is the efficiency of Freedom Living at work. That is how our projects play out and the kind of techniques we implement.
Watering is a big factor in many areas. I feel its important in sustainability to provide the water from an off the grid source. We have wells, which are easy & abundant forms of on demand water. I highly recommend one for any moderate to large size garden or farm.
With on demand water like a well, setting up irrigation on specialty drip hoses with a timer is the ultimate in efficiency & ease. We use an amazing drip hose material called T-Tape. There are many variations of it for different purposes, it is very cheap & although made in a factory is such a time saver, I choose it. By setting up this drip hose system to a well with a timer one can actually leave as I have done for a month & come back to a perfectly healthy garden full of produce to harvest.
An ideal garden set up is one that sustains it self. If its not easy its not being done right.
Rain water collecting is a very possible watering method especially for the smaller sized family gardens. Most places get way more then enough rain when collected to water a garden. The main factor ( in some places much more than others) is the storage space. In a place like Texas it is common to get inches of rain in 1 day & not get rain for a month after. This means that to completely rely on rain water one must have enough storage to supply water for at least a month without rain. The question then really is not about rain but how much storage is needed for the garden size for the time there might be with no rain.
For a smaller garden it would be quite easy to fill 55 gallon tanks with water & just have hoses on them that when opened drained into the garden. For a large garden this would not be the most efficient set up.
For a larger garden an underground tank storage with a pump or an above ground tower is better. The nice thing about a tower is that it can use gravity. The nice thing about underground tanks is that they are much cheaper & because they are underground don't take up land space. Also if building cob dwellings it could be possible to use the dirt dug up for earthen building. One would defiantly need a pump for underground tanks however the money saved on underground tanks would easily pay for a pump. The worst part of an underground tank is that its underground so getting to it is a pain. This in most cases if planned right is not much of an issue.
I have quite a few other rain water collecting and distributing ideas that are not tested. Will share as experienced and worthwhile.
Another option is a pond or a river. Ponds or rivers could be pumped, channeled, or harvested to substitute water to a garden that isn't getting enough rain. Springs are also present in many mountainous areas of the country which make great garden as well as house water.
In low rain areas utilizing raised beds is a wise option. By making raised beds one gets a more optimal water usage. Combine this with lots of mulch & you can get by with far far less water.
With that lets get to raised bed construction!
I love raised beds & have utilized them many times from many different sources in many different forms. The factor that I use for all my beds is that the material is a free source being reused. This makes for a wide variety, keeps it creative & above all keeps from supporting the creation of more materials instead of using the over abundance of material we already have & throw away.
The beds can be long or wide as long as every area of the bed can be reached to harvest. So long skinny ones work well.
I have made raised beds out of doors nailed, screwed or fastened together to make large rectangles. They work great & if the doors are free then yippee =D
I have made raised beds out of cabinet doors tied together with strings that are made from that industrial shrink wrap they use on pallets of boxes & such. This was a cool model because I could make them any shape, triangles, squares, rectangles or even octagons. In this particular model I needed nothing that cost anything or that did not come from a trash source. WIN.
I have made lots of raised beds out of tires large and small. A car sized tire is only good for about 1 melon plant. I have also used huge 4 hundred lb tires that are 4 feet in diameter, as large raised beds that work very very well.
I have made raised beds out of bundled stick piles and my favorite ones are out of cardboard and bamboo! They are super beautiful, very easy, very abundant, free & sustainable resource. Can make any shape or size and they decompose quite quickly adding to the richness of the soil!
Organic Gardening is so important for so many reasons.
1. Most food that we eat is not local. This means that it is being transported via trucks that run on mass amounts of oil/fuel. It means that it is transported on roads which are made from machines using mass amounts of oil. It is most likely grown on huge plots of land worked with huge machines that run on mass amounts of oil.
By localizing our food ALL of that oil/fuel is negated. That is a HUGE environmental impact. Also by localizing our food we stop taking advantage of many countries who grow food for us at very small profit and death of surrounding land.
2. ~Health~ This is a huge factor. There is very little comparison to wild crafted produce grown on ones own property & produce bought in a store organic or otherwise. We grow the best tomatoes I have ever had, I & others often say if what I buy in the store is a tomato then this is NOT a tomato. It is like that with lots of what we grow. The quality is of such a higher degree for many reasons.
Even organic produce is allowed to have up to a certain amount of different chemicals present in the food. Even a lot of organic produce is picked early & selected for reasons beside optimal health/taste.
By growing ones own produce it is possible to grow completely chemical/pesticide/herbicide & even fertilizer free! This produces produce of such great quality that when paired with fresh daily picked ripe on the plant, we get OPTIMAL food. Also a factor overlooked by many is that when we grow our OWN food the food actually grows for US based on our particular make up & needs. Meaning a plant can specifically grow to benefit us individually based on who we are! This is powerful for full spectrum health.
3. Natural~ By growing food without any pesticides, herbicide, fertilizers etc there is much less impact on the environment. There is less run off into our surrounding environment & also the factor of BUYING these products saves all the shipping distance & all the factory space that is used to produce such products.
Its really important to take into account factors besides the present obvious ones. It is obvious that a pesticide run off will effect water supply close by but it is also true that this fertilizer was made in a factory put in a bag made in another factory & shipped across the country or state to get to you. There are many levels of UN-SUSTAINABILITY in play here. By growing our own food in this way ALL of these are negated. This is HUGE!
4. ~Cost~ This is a nice benefit of growing food. It is quite easy to grow enough food for ones self/family/community. We have many systems & awarenesses that make gardening easy, abundant, & self sustaining. It really comes down to planting, harvesting, & utilizing which are all fun aspects of the process!
By growing our own food we save money on costs of food but also we have a great way to make extra income without leaving the home, doing something we are doing any ways! It is almost as easy to grow 1 acre of food as it is 1/2 acre in our situations, but the profit is twice as much. Quality produce & products are in high demand while also fetching a premium price with individuals & businesses alike. There are so many ways to utilize a garden for sustainability and profit that it is my number 1 aspect to sustainability.
So down to the details. An efficient abundant healthy garden is very much about the soil. It has been found that with really healthy soil most diseases are of no issue & the plants produce prolifically , beautiful, rich produce.
So for that, composting is a huge factor of a true sustainable garden. Read the article on *composting* here.
Most land before it gets planted is not ideal for an abundant garden. The first belief that I want to dispose of is the idea that tilling or anything like that is necessary or even beneficial. This is actually quite harmful to the harmony & balance of the earth & is detrimental to a magical healthy prolific garden. Any time the soil dries out or is exposed to the sun many beneficial nutrients are lost. There are many aspects to soil that die when dried out or exposed to the heat of sun. Tilling stimulates both of these processes. Tilling is only actually needed because of hard soil and the inhabitation of unwanted plants in the growing area. There are much more harmonized, efficient & abundant ways to achieve this.
So lets start here. You have a plot of land & you want to start a garden. What now? Most likely this land will have grass, weeds or some plant life growing that you will want to replace with produce. You want to cover the entire area to be planted with cardboard, black plastic, carpet or some other water trapping , heat trapping and dark creating substance. What this does is, kills all the grass from lack of sun & exposure to hot moist climates. This grass then decomposes into perfect nutrients for the plants to come while also getting rid of all the plants that you don't want & also keeping the soil moist and soft! I prefer cardboard for this purpose because you can just leave the cardboard & it will decompose into the soil also! This is the single most magical awareness I have come to in gardening. By negating tilling completely one saves much energy in the tilling process itself, while much energy in the process of nutrients that are SAVED & also CREATED. After this is done in the case of plastic it is wise to remove before planting, in the case of cardboard just cover it with some rich compost & then plant.
Each kind of plant will want to be planted in a different time of year & want different conditions to grow. This is a bit to detailed to get into here however almost all seeds will have planting info on them as for when to plant, what kind of area to plant, how much water & what kind of soil they prefer. These general instructions are normally quite dependable. It is also quite different for someone in Wisconsin vs someone in Texas. In places like Wisconsin that has a very short growing season it is wise to have a green house to pre start plants & although it is a great head start in a place like Texas because of the long growing season it is not necessary.
As you start to plant, space the seeds so that they have the proper space for their type of existence. Radishes can grow very close together while watermelons need quite a bit of space to grow. The packages of seeds usually say how far apart to plant etc.
Also companion planting is a very useful and highly advised practice. The way it works is that there are certain plants that help each other grow or keep away pests that bother other plants. THAT IS PERFECTION! For instance a problem for squash or melons is the squash beetle. However squash beetles dont like marigolds so planting marigolds around the squash keeps many of the beetles away. There are many plants that serve this purpose. Check out the many gardening books & even web sites have lists of companion planting combination's. Check this out before you buy seeds for the season so as you know what it is you are wanting based on what you are wanting ;-)> Then plan out the garden so that the companion plants are next to each other & the ones that don't benefit each other are away from each other.
I also recommend making a chart of plantings so as you have documentation of what grew where with what and how it did so that on next planting the chart can be consulted & enhancements made. Every year that I garden I become more efficient & proficient at utilizing the space for what is planted.
After these seeds are planted the soil needs to be moist as the roots are very small to non existent. This is why the spring is the rainy season so that the new seeds can grow with their very small ability to absorb & retain water! THAT IS PERFECTION!
Most of the time we don't want soggy or soaking soil but damp moist soil. As soon as the sprouts are above ground it is wise to ad mulch around the plants. Add at least a couple inches or mulch to the entire garden where a sprout is not coming up. This serves many purposes!
1. It keeps moisture in the soil which is important to reduce water use and time spent watering. 2. Protects the soil from the sun! This is huge as the sun is one of the leading causes for soil depletion. 3. As the wood chips sit there all year they decompose creating their own small amount of compost, there by enriching the soil!
As you integrate these aspects you can see how the need for tilling disappears. With the cardboard composting all the plant matter not wanted is gotten ride of while being utilized in a sustainable fashion and also providing a clean slate. Then the wood chips protecting the soil while also adding to it, there is very little depletion which is easily substituted in the form of compost made on site.
During the winter months one can either just cover all the land with mulch or plant an over crop. Both are good options. A couple months before planting season cardboard, carpet, plastic or some such material may be needed again to prep the ground for the fresh little seeds to have no competition or interference from unwanted plants. It is also possible to cover the land with cardboard in the winter then wood chips & the next coming spring the cardboard will be decomposed enough to grow through & there will be no plants growing in the garden space.
This is the cycle for maintaining healthy soil and plants. It is so beautiful because it is quite clear how the techniques utilized save time and energy in one way while also contributing energy in another. This is the cycle of life and the abundance of nature being utilized. As one uses cardboard to prep the ground one is saving time on tilling and also CONTRIBUTING to the soil. This process is also utilizing cardboard that is being thrown away and not utilized at all. Its also free! That is 4 levels of sustainability and abundance being utilized in 1 step. That is the efficiency of Freedom Living at work. That is how our projects play out and the kind of techniques we implement.
Watering is a big factor in many areas. I feel its important in sustainability to provide the water from an off the grid source. We have wells, which are easy & abundant forms of on demand water. I highly recommend one for any moderate to large size garden or farm.
With on demand water like a well, setting up irrigation on specialty drip hoses with a timer is the ultimate in efficiency & ease. We use an amazing drip hose material called T-Tape. There are many variations of it for different purposes, it is very cheap & although made in a factory is such a time saver, I choose it. By setting up this drip hose system to a well with a timer one can actually leave as I have done for a month & come back to a perfectly healthy garden full of produce to harvest.
An ideal garden set up is one that sustains it self. If its not easy its not being done right.
Rain water collecting is a very possible watering method especially for the smaller sized family gardens. Most places get way more then enough rain when collected to water a garden. The main factor ( in some places much more than others) is the storage space. In a place like Texas it is common to get inches of rain in 1 day & not get rain for a month after. This means that to completely rely on rain water one must have enough storage to supply water for at least a month without rain. The question then really is not about rain but how much storage is needed for the garden size for the time there might be with no rain.
For a smaller garden it would be quite easy to fill 55 gallon tanks with water & just have hoses on them that when opened drained into the garden. For a large garden this would not be the most efficient set up.
For a larger garden an underground tank storage with a pump or an above ground tower is better. The nice thing about a tower is that it can use gravity. The nice thing about underground tanks is that they are much cheaper & because they are underground don't take up land space. Also if building cob dwellings it could be possible to use the dirt dug up for earthen building. One would defiantly need a pump for underground tanks however the money saved on underground tanks would easily pay for a pump. The worst part of an underground tank is that its underground so getting to it is a pain. This in most cases if planned right is not much of an issue.
I have quite a few other rain water collecting and distributing ideas that are not tested. Will share as experienced and worthwhile.
Another option is a pond or a river. Ponds or rivers could be pumped, channeled, or harvested to substitute water to a garden that isn't getting enough rain. Springs are also present in many mountainous areas of the country which make great garden as well as house water.
In low rain areas utilizing raised beds is a wise option. By making raised beds one gets a more optimal water usage. Combine this with lots of mulch & you can get by with far far less water.
With that lets get to raised bed construction!
I love raised beds & have utilized them many times from many different sources in many different forms. The factor that I use for all my beds is that the material is a free source being reused. This makes for a wide variety, keeps it creative & above all keeps from supporting the creation of more materials instead of using the over abundance of material we already have & throw away.
The beds can be long or wide as long as every area of the bed can be reached to harvest. So long skinny ones work well.
I have made raised beds out of doors nailed, screwed or fastened together to make large rectangles. They work great & if the doors are free then yippee =D
I have made raised beds out of cabinet doors tied together with strings that are made from that industrial shrink wrap they use on pallets of boxes & such. This was a cool model because I could make them any shape, triangles, squares, rectangles or even octagons. In this particular model I needed nothing that cost anything or that did not come from a trash source. WIN.
I have made lots of raised beds out of tires large and small. A car sized tire is only good for about 1 melon plant. I have also used huge 4 hundred lb tires that are 4 feet in diameter, as large raised beds that work very very well.
I have made raised beds out of bundled stick piles and my favorite ones are out of cardboard and bamboo! They are super beautiful, very easy, very abundant, free & sustainable resource. Can make any shape or size and they decompose quite quickly adding to the richness of the soil!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Worm Farming
Worm Farming is a fantastic way to cultivate the a super beneficial lil creature for gardens.
It is very easy, cheap and abundant. According to what I have read, as I have not actually tested this my self. Is that temperature, moisture and food affect the reproduction rate of worms. Under the best conditions, one pair of worms will produce one egg capsule each week. Each capsule contains up to 20 worms that will hatch in 2-3 weeks. These new worms will be capable of reproducing in 2-3 months. That's a lot of worms!
It is very easy to buy or find a hand full of worms to start the process.
Worm farming is a very easy way of turning vegetable and fruit scraps into a great potting soil or soil supplement for your garden or house plants. It can be done year round, by apartment dweller, home owners AND businesses. Worm farming is particularly useful for people who would like to compost their food scraps but do not have space for a backyard compost bin.
Or for me because I do do lots of composting I actually have worm farms so that I can add the quickly multiplying worms to my garden where they will naturally fertilize the soil as they live!!!
Here is what you need to get started:
Take not this is only 1 way and there are many ways. I will list alternate ways and pics.
Container of wood or plastic. I use a sturdy plastic container that is about 9 inches deep, 9 inches wide and 14 inches long. The measurements are not real critical. This an easy size for many situations. If you are going to keep your worm farm inside, you will want it to be water tight. The worms are going to be happier when kept in the dark where it is moist. If your container is clear, wrap it to keep light out or place it in a cabinet or a opaque container to seal out the light. Have a lit that has very small holes in it like a 1/32 inch drill bit hole. That way they can breath but not crawl all over the place.
Make sure that the place you find to store the bin is away from vibrations. Worms will try to move to a better location if they are too near a source of vibration.
Worms. I really suggest that you use red worms. They are also called red wrigglers or manure worms.
I do have some night crawlers farms but they do require much more space and are not as easy to maintain.
Bedding material. Start with some shredded newspaper, moistened, not wet. Use the black and white pages or really any paper without much gloss or color. Add a couple of handfuls of garden soil, not potting soil, and a couple of crushed egg shells. Keep the bedding damp but not sopping. The moisture helps them to breathe, but too much water will drown them.
Food. You can feed your worms fruit and vegetable scraps and starchy scraps, like bread, oatmeal, and pasta. Do not feed them too much acidic foods, like citric fruits, coffee ground and tea bags. Also fatty or high protein foods are also not a great idea. I really don't use any citrus, fats or proteins at all. They do best with a pH between 7 & 8. You can use egg shells to balance the effects of coffee grounds, orange and lemon peels. Never feed your worms meat, poultry, dairy products, or salty food , like potato chips. These will create odors and attract insects. Your worms will eat about half their body weight each day. Take this into consideration when you are deciding how much food to add to the bin.
Worms require oxygen so keep the lid partially open to allow air to circulate. on in the farm.
Worms will function very well at room temperature. Keep the farm temperature between +40 degrees F and +85 degrees F. Remember that heat will build up quickly in the farm if it is left in the sunlight.
Red worms reproduce often. Small, oval shaped cocoons in the bedding indicate that nature is taking its course. Cocoons may contain several baby worms and will take several weeks to hatch. Watch for tiny white worms. Poultry egg shells added to the bedding will provide calcium the worms need to reproduce. Don't worry about red worms taking over the estate, their population is limited by the size of their environment.
Its very cool how worms just naturally know when there is enough worms existing in there area. When there is a certain amount they just stop breading!
Farming worms:
Place the damp shredded newspaper with the garden soil and crushed egg shell in the container. Don't pack it down. Add the worms to their new home. If you leave the lid off and the light on, it will encourage the worms to investigate the new digs. Don't forget to add some worm food before you move the bin into the dark.
As your worm population increases, you can add more food per day. Burying the food in the damp newspaper will keep mold from growing in the worm farm. Worms can live on just the paper so its not critical that they get food every day. If there is no food or paper in there its time to get them more but there is no need to get a huge pile going on in there or it will rot/mold or create other realities we don't really want.
If your bedding is too wet, carefully drain the water and add dry ingredients.
Soon you will notice an increase in the worm castings in your worm farm. This makes a great natural fertilizer. And all it cost you was a little time and some stuff that you were going to toss in the garbage.
You can use these castings in potted house plants or mix it with water to create worm tea to feed to garden or other plants. Super rich stuff! Your plants will appreciate it!
When you see that bedding is no longer identifiable, you will want to harvest. Worms cannot survive in their own waste. The dirt will be very fine, very moist and very homogenized. Use it in some way, make another farm out of the multiplied worms, add them to a garden or give them to a friend.
I started with 1000 worms and have many worms farms of hundreds of thousands now. I use the castings for plants and add the worms to the garden when there is more than I want to house ;-)
There is lots of info on the web about worm farming. Google it or check on youtube for videos of the process. You will find it very easy and very rewarding.
Farm On!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coj7oumY3TY
It is very easy, cheap and abundant. According to what I have read, as I have not actually tested this my self. Is that temperature, moisture and food affect the reproduction rate of worms. Under the best conditions, one pair of worms will produce one egg capsule each week. Each capsule contains up to 20 worms that will hatch in 2-3 weeks. These new worms will be capable of reproducing in 2-3 months. That's a lot of worms!
It is very easy to buy or find a hand full of worms to start the process.
Worm farming is a very easy way of turning vegetable and fruit scraps into a great potting soil or soil supplement for your garden or house plants. It can be done year round, by apartment dweller, home owners AND businesses. Worm farming is particularly useful for people who would like to compost their food scraps but do not have space for a backyard compost bin.
Or for me because I do do lots of composting I actually have worm farms so that I can add the quickly multiplying worms to my garden where they will naturally fertilize the soil as they live!!!
Here is what you need to get started:
Take not this is only 1 way and there are many ways. I will list alternate ways and pics.
Container of wood or plastic. I use a sturdy plastic container that is about 9 inches deep, 9 inches wide and 14 inches long. The measurements are not real critical. This an easy size for many situations. If you are going to keep your worm farm inside, you will want it to be water tight. The worms are going to be happier when kept in the dark where it is moist. If your container is clear, wrap it to keep light out or place it in a cabinet or a opaque container to seal out the light. Have a lit that has very small holes in it like a 1/32 inch drill bit hole. That way they can breath but not crawl all over the place.
Make sure that the place you find to store the bin is away from vibrations. Worms will try to move to a better location if they are too near a source of vibration.
Worms. I really suggest that you use red worms. They are also called red wrigglers or manure worms.
I do have some night crawlers farms but they do require much more space and are not as easy to maintain.
Bedding material. Start with some shredded newspaper, moistened, not wet. Use the black and white pages or really any paper without much gloss or color. Add a couple of handfuls of garden soil, not potting soil, and a couple of crushed egg shells. Keep the bedding damp but not sopping. The moisture helps them to breathe, but too much water will drown them.
Food. You can feed your worms fruit and vegetable scraps and starchy scraps, like bread, oatmeal, and pasta. Do not feed them too much acidic foods, like citric fruits, coffee ground and tea bags. Also fatty or high protein foods are also not a great idea. I really don't use any citrus, fats or proteins at all. They do best with a pH between 7 & 8. You can use egg shells to balance the effects of coffee grounds, orange and lemon peels. Never feed your worms meat, poultry, dairy products, or salty food , like potato chips. These will create odors and attract insects. Your worms will eat about half their body weight each day. Take this into consideration when you are deciding how much food to add to the bin.
Worms require oxygen so keep the lid partially open to allow air to circulate. on in the farm.
Worms will function very well at room temperature. Keep the farm temperature between +40 degrees F and +85 degrees F. Remember that heat will build up quickly in the farm if it is left in the sunlight.
Red worms reproduce often. Small, oval shaped cocoons in the bedding indicate that nature is taking its course. Cocoons may contain several baby worms and will take several weeks to hatch. Watch for tiny white worms. Poultry egg shells added to the bedding will provide calcium the worms need to reproduce. Don't worry about red worms taking over the estate, their population is limited by the size of their environment.
Its very cool how worms just naturally know when there is enough worms existing in there area. When there is a certain amount they just stop breading!
Farming worms:
Place the damp shredded newspaper with the garden soil and crushed egg shell in the container. Don't pack it down. Add the worms to their new home. If you leave the lid off and the light on, it will encourage the worms to investigate the new digs. Don't forget to add some worm food before you move the bin into the dark.
As your worm population increases, you can add more food per day. Burying the food in the damp newspaper will keep mold from growing in the worm farm. Worms can live on just the paper so its not critical that they get food every day. If there is no food or paper in there its time to get them more but there is no need to get a huge pile going on in there or it will rot/mold or create other realities we don't really want.
If your bedding is too wet, carefully drain the water and add dry ingredients.
Soon you will notice an increase in the worm castings in your worm farm. This makes a great natural fertilizer. And all it cost you was a little time and some stuff that you were going to toss in the garbage.
You can use these castings in potted house plants or mix it with water to create worm tea to feed to garden or other plants. Super rich stuff! Your plants will appreciate it!
When you see that bedding is no longer identifiable, you will want to harvest. Worms cannot survive in their own waste. The dirt will be very fine, very moist and very homogenized. Use it in some way, make another farm out of the multiplied worms, add them to a garden or give them to a friend.
I started with 1000 worms and have many worms farms of hundreds of thousands now. I use the castings for plants and add the worms to the garden when there is more than I want to house ;-)
There is lots of info on the web about worm farming. Google it or check on youtube for videos of the process. You will find it very easy and very rewarding.
Farm On!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coj7oumY3TY
Composting Article
Composting is a great pleasure for me. When I compost I am very in tune with the natural abundance of the circle of life.
When I first got into composting I realized how much matter there was being under utilized and or thrown away. By utilizing many of these for composting I was able to generate 1,000's of lbs of compost per week with very little cost and effort.
Compost is essential for any truly organic garden to produce in an abundant fashion. With really good compost plants don't need fertilizers. Because they are so strong and healthy not only do the produce abundantly but they are not subject to many diseases and other ailments.
I love organic sustainable abundance!
The main understandings important to efficient composting are 3 fold:
1 moisture. Compost wants to be moist not wet.
2. Air Flow. Compost wants to be able to breath but not be super exposed to the elements. So usually the smallest size compost we want to have is 3x3x3ft. A container is good but only if it has some breathing space. I love to use pallets, chicken wire or old pieces of fence to make my bins. Bins are not necessary though.
3. Nitrogen. Nitrogen is what speeds up the decomposition process. Nitrogen is availabe in most green mater such as grass, vegetable scraps or manure. This needs to be added whenever the compost is no longer hot (135 df or hotter) to continue the fast decomposition process. This is not necessary as compost will decompose anyways however it is quite possible to fully compost leaves or straw in 1.5 months turning it twice a week and adding a nitrogen source.
What is awesome about all this is that water, air and compost able matter are all over the place and very free. I collect thousands of bags of leaves from suburbs that are all free and going to the trash. Not only do I get free compost matter but I also save the land fill and lots of gas getting it there.
I also get lots of free wood chips DELIVERED to my property from tree trimming companies. One needs to be wiling to get at least a truck load but other than that its a sweet deal.
These are the to largest sources of carbon in my compost. There are many other carbons available.
Matter is decomposing commonly. Composting is just a way to spead it up and utilize it for a purpose. Even metal or plastic left in the elements is going to decompose. Now we may not want to use this for the garden and it may take years but it is decomposing also.
So in composting we want to speed up this process in an efficient abundant manner for us.
By creating an environment where it is moist and active microscopic life forms start to flourish eating and composting the matter. Producing us with compost!
Its all about creating and nurturing a specific environment for this purpose.
So to start composting find a site.
I like to choose a site close to where I will use it as it cuts down on my transporting of the compost. I build a bin out of whatever I have available. If I use chicken wire I will cut a length of chicken wire at least long enough to make a 3 foot diameter circle. I will then connect each end together to form a cylinder. I can then fill this with layers of compost. If I made a bin out of pallets I would take 3 pallets and stand them up on their sides. I would then tie each one together so that 1 pallet is tied together on two corners and the other two are tied on one corner to that base pallet. This forms a 3 sided square.
To begin the compost I start with a layer of carbon (dried dead organic matter) for me leaves or wood chips. I then do a much smaller layer of nitrogen (living active matter) for me it is green grass clippings, manure or vegetable matter. The ratio for carbon to nitrogen is about 30-1 in volume not weight, 1 being the nitrogen.
As I layer the carbon and nitrogen I want to wet the layers with water. Depending on how dry the materials are will dictate how much water I use. Just remember that the compost wants to be wet not dry. The life thrives in moisture but is very much inhibited by flooding.
I just then repeat this process of layering carbon, nitrogen and water. It is a very simple and natural process that when nurtured profits great results.
An active compost will get up to 150-170 degrees F. You will know it is active because if you stick your hand in the center of the pile it will be to hot to keep near. If it does not get hot at all then there a few elements that can be out of whack. 1. To much or not enough water. 2. Not enough nitrogen (cant have to much if its a natural source) 3. No circulation, meaning it cant breath. This is not normally an issue.
If the compost does get hot then its working. Some people have compost thermometers that are a couple feet long that they stick into the centers. When the temp starts to drop its time to turn it and and nitrogen and water.
The main question is how much and how fast are you wanting compost. With the right ingredients and the proper nurturing it is quite possible to have a pile composted in 1.5 months. This will require turning about 2 times a week while adding a nitrogen source and the proper moisture. Do not add carbon during this phase. Carbon is only added in the begging. This is of course if you are wanting fast compost. Basically the nitrogen composts fast and the carbon is what takes "time" so by adding more carbon every time the compost will not really fully compost until months after the last addition of carbon.
The pile will get smaller and smaller every time it is turned as the matter becomes more compact and of smaller particle size.
Healthy compost does not stink. It is a common mis conception that compost stinks.
If it does stink it is because there are ingredients that are not ideal such as flesh, fatty foods, litter box, etc or its not getting turned so the matter is just rotting on top instead of composting.
After a very short time of experimenting with composting it will feel very natural and one can evolve techniques based on this.
I myself do not even turn compost any more. I have so much compost going at 1 time that I can just use my huge loads from a season before instead of needing it every month.
So what I do is create many large long term compost piles. I build large piles 4 or more feet tall and 10 or more feet wide/long. I then mix in nitrogen and moisture to get it started and leave it. The only thing I do is keep it moist by running a sprinkler on it every now and again depending on when its feeling dry. This takes longer but in the long run it saves me a lot of "time" and I still have just as much compost when I need it.
If there were 1 factor that is most important in composting I would say its moisture. A dry heap will not compost at all. Actually even good compost if it gets to dry will be much less nutrient. I feel that a lot of the benefit to fresh healthy compost is the living microbes in the soil that play many over looked rolls. So I always keep my compost covered/protected from the sun.
This is compost at its finest. Here is a list of many common abundant materials for composting:
Carbons Sources
1. Leaves
2. Wood Chips.
3. Straw/hay or brown grass clippings.
4. Cardboard, junk mail & Newspaper.
5. Yard Scraps.
Nitrogen Sources.
1. Green Grass.
2. Manure
3. Coffee grounds. All Starbucks save their grounds for composters. Stop in and ask.
4. Vegetable Scraps.
5. Pretty much any living green matter.
When I first got into composting I realized how much matter there was being under utilized and or thrown away. By utilizing many of these for composting I was able to generate 1,000's of lbs of compost per week with very little cost and effort.
Compost is essential for any truly organic garden to produce in an abundant fashion. With really good compost plants don't need fertilizers. Because they are so strong and healthy not only do the produce abundantly but they are not subject to many diseases and other ailments.
I love organic sustainable abundance!
The main understandings important to efficient composting are 3 fold:
1 moisture. Compost wants to be moist not wet.
2. Air Flow. Compost wants to be able to breath but not be super exposed to the elements. So usually the smallest size compost we want to have is 3x3x3ft. A container is good but only if it has some breathing space. I love to use pallets, chicken wire or old pieces of fence to make my bins. Bins are not necessary though.
3. Nitrogen. Nitrogen is what speeds up the decomposition process. Nitrogen is availabe in most green mater such as grass, vegetable scraps or manure. This needs to be added whenever the compost is no longer hot (135 df or hotter) to continue the fast decomposition process. This is not necessary as compost will decompose anyways however it is quite possible to fully compost leaves or straw in 1.5 months turning it twice a week and adding a nitrogen source.
What is awesome about all this is that water, air and compost able matter are all over the place and very free. I collect thousands of bags of leaves from suburbs that are all free and going to the trash. Not only do I get free compost matter but I also save the land fill and lots of gas getting it there.
I also get lots of free wood chips DELIVERED to my property from tree trimming companies. One needs to be wiling to get at least a truck load but other than that its a sweet deal.
These are the to largest sources of carbon in my compost. There are many other carbons available.
Matter is decomposing commonly. Composting is just a way to spead it up and utilize it for a purpose. Even metal or plastic left in the elements is going to decompose. Now we may not want to use this for the garden and it may take years but it is decomposing also.
So in composting we want to speed up this process in an efficient abundant manner for us.
By creating an environment where it is moist and active microscopic life forms start to flourish eating and composting the matter. Producing us with compost!
Its all about creating and nurturing a specific environment for this purpose.
So to start composting find a site.
I like to choose a site close to where I will use it as it cuts down on my transporting of the compost. I build a bin out of whatever I have available. If I use chicken wire I will cut a length of chicken wire at least long enough to make a 3 foot diameter circle. I will then connect each end together to form a cylinder. I can then fill this with layers of compost. If I made a bin out of pallets I would take 3 pallets and stand them up on their sides. I would then tie each one together so that 1 pallet is tied together on two corners and the other two are tied on one corner to that base pallet. This forms a 3 sided square.
To begin the compost I start with a layer of carbon (dried dead organic matter) for me leaves or wood chips. I then do a much smaller layer of nitrogen (living active matter) for me it is green grass clippings, manure or vegetable matter. The ratio for carbon to nitrogen is about 30-1 in volume not weight, 1 being the nitrogen.
As I layer the carbon and nitrogen I want to wet the layers with water. Depending on how dry the materials are will dictate how much water I use. Just remember that the compost wants to be wet not dry. The life thrives in moisture but is very much inhibited by flooding.
I just then repeat this process of layering carbon, nitrogen and water. It is a very simple and natural process that when nurtured profits great results.
An active compost will get up to 150-170 degrees F. You will know it is active because if you stick your hand in the center of the pile it will be to hot to keep near. If it does not get hot at all then there a few elements that can be out of whack. 1. To much or not enough water. 2. Not enough nitrogen (cant have to much if its a natural source) 3. No circulation, meaning it cant breath. This is not normally an issue.
If the compost does get hot then its working. Some people have compost thermometers that are a couple feet long that they stick into the centers. When the temp starts to drop its time to turn it and and nitrogen and water.
The main question is how much and how fast are you wanting compost. With the right ingredients and the proper nurturing it is quite possible to have a pile composted in 1.5 months. This will require turning about 2 times a week while adding a nitrogen source and the proper moisture. Do not add carbon during this phase. Carbon is only added in the begging. This is of course if you are wanting fast compost. Basically the nitrogen composts fast and the carbon is what takes "time" so by adding more carbon every time the compost will not really fully compost until months after the last addition of carbon.
The pile will get smaller and smaller every time it is turned as the matter becomes more compact and of smaller particle size.
Healthy compost does not stink. It is a common mis conception that compost stinks.
If it does stink it is because there are ingredients that are not ideal such as flesh, fatty foods, litter box, etc or its not getting turned so the matter is just rotting on top instead of composting.
After a very short time of experimenting with composting it will feel very natural and one can evolve techniques based on this.
I myself do not even turn compost any more. I have so much compost going at 1 time that I can just use my huge loads from a season before instead of needing it every month.
So what I do is create many large long term compost piles. I build large piles 4 or more feet tall and 10 or more feet wide/long. I then mix in nitrogen and moisture to get it started and leave it. The only thing I do is keep it moist by running a sprinkler on it every now and again depending on when its feeling dry. This takes longer but in the long run it saves me a lot of "time" and I still have just as much compost when I need it.
If there were 1 factor that is most important in composting I would say its moisture. A dry heap will not compost at all. Actually even good compost if it gets to dry will be much less nutrient. I feel that a lot of the benefit to fresh healthy compost is the living microbes in the soil that play many over looked rolls. So I always keep my compost covered/protected from the sun.
This is compost at its finest. Here is a list of many common abundant materials for composting:
Carbons Sources
1. Leaves
2. Wood Chips.
3. Straw/hay or brown grass clippings.
4. Cardboard, junk mail & Newspaper.
5. Yard Scraps.
Nitrogen Sources.
1. Green Grass.
2. Manure
3. Coffee grounds. All Starbucks save their grounds for composters. Stop in and ask.
4. Vegetable Scraps.
5. Pretty much any living green matter.
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