Sunday, September 12, 2010

Aisle 12 - Rubbish Challenges: Composting, Wormeries and magic microbes


* Challenge 35: Is composting the answer?
* Challenge 36: Worms: charming or alarming?
* Challenge 37: Do Bokashis and magic microbes do the business?

Compost, compost, compost! If only the kitchen collection bin would take itself outside automatically, I might say this word a lot less! Kieran is in charge of emptying our indoor receptacles into their outdoor partners and our never-ending compost bucket is part of that process. We compost all kitchen waste, with a bog-standard plastic compost bin down the back garden. The pace of decomposition is usually just that little bit behind our consumption, so it is usually full to the brim! Eventually, it all returns back into the garden.

I am quite intrigued by worm farming and each time it is shown on the gardening programs, I start thinking of starting one. If the children were still children, if life was less busy, then this is something I could see working well. But I am realistic enough to know that it would be my project and mine alone, and I can't promise said worms the lifestyle they need. So, for now, no worm farm.

But a Bokashi has potential. I have stumbled upon them at various community events and would like to investigate further. At least responsibility for the life-cycle of bacteria would cause me less angst than that of worms!

But for now, it is compost, compost, compost!!!

1 comment:

gaia said...

My worm farm is surprisingly low maintenance - I spend more time turning the waste in my compost bin to make it work faster! The worms get some of my compost scraps from the kitchen once a week or so, and a bit of water every now and then if it's looking dry, and I turn the stuff whenever it smells manky. Really easy! They mostly look after themselves, and I have instant fertiliser for my garden at the turn of a tap. I'm interested in the bokashi system, I would have loved to have known about it before children when I was apartment living!