Your Compost Might Be Pretty, But is it Alive?
What’s in your compost bin? If you’re a homesteader or backyard farmer, you may have some slowly rotting food scraps and garden litter than looks dark, and is decently fertile, but missing the diverse microscopic life that will truly boost your soil and your plants. On June 20th, Living Web Farms will host a workshop focused on teaching tips for building microbe-rich compost.
Jane Weaver of Alexander, NC, makes a job of looking at people’s farm and garden soil. Not any old look, either, but a good, hard look through a microscope. She’s looking for bacteria, amoeba, nematodes, fungi, and other critters that are normally invisible to the naked eye. Sometimes, what she sees is surprising. “Farmers bring me their soil samples to analyze under the microscope so that we can predict their fertility, and so many of them are simply barren: no bacteria, no fungi, and no predators for these organisms. But, the bacteria and fungi are the microscopic fertilizer bags for plants in the soil, and their predators are the fertilizer bag openers.” In other words, soil that looks good to the eye, and has been managed to grow food might actually be quite lifeless, and lifeless soil will not lead to thriving plants.
What is the answer? Compost: really well-made compost, full of the life that the soil needs, and that the plants need in turn. Weaver explains, “Healthy soil and compost are not only hosts to microorganisms, but they also actually ARE living organisms. The microbes are comparable to cells in the soil organism, and make nutrients available to the plants. As they work, they also support formation of proper soil structure so that levels of moisture and air are adequate for growth.” As it turns out, even people who have been making compost for many years are turning out compost that is dead of microorganisms, or rich in only one type, usually bacteria, which can be supportive of weed growth rather than healthy crops.
On June 20th, 2017, Weaver will join Living Web Farms’ Director Patryk Battle in teaching a next-level compost-building workshop. The tips and tricks shared at the event are meant to bring growers, no matter how much they know about compost, into a mindset of focusing on the microbial life in their pile. The class will also include techniques for keeping compost piles rodent-free, guidelines for what not to put in the compost pile, and participants in the class will get to take part in building a pile during class using the 10-bucket-method.
In many cases, “people are letting food scraps and yard litter slowly rot in some back corner of the lot,” says Patryk Battle, who ran a commercial composting facility before his time as a farmer. “These slow, cold piles are rat motels, and by the time the organic matter has decomposed, you may end up with something that looks dark and decent, but you’ve got a lifeless compost that could be hosting weed seeds and pathogens.” In response, tips shared in the class will be accessible, geared toward the home-scale, and thoroughly related to fostering a complete foodweb of soil microorganisms.
To register for Building Microbe-Rich, Living Compost, visit: http://livingwebfarms.org/workshops/building-microbe-rich-living-compost/
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Living Web Farms is an education and research organic farm located in Mills River, NC. With over 35 acres, four greenhouses, alternative energy innovation, pastured livestock, forest crops, and diverse vegetable production, Living Web is a leading demonstration site for effective organic farming in western NC. Living Web conducts year-round education in farming, homesteading, cooking, and sustainable living. All education conducted at the farm is archived online in a free video library, and all food produced at the farm is donated to charity, via seven North Carolina food banks. For more information, visit www.LivingWebFarms.org.
