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F360K – Back to Garden
COMPOSTING - “Science, Nature, History”

Science
•Material Mixture - 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen (C:N)
The ratio of carbon (energy source) material and nitrogen (strength source) material is crucial to the composting process. When substituting food scraps in replace of manure for the nitrogen component, use 50% food scraps to 50% browns in volume. 

•Materials High in Carbon
Branches/Twigs (200:1)
Oak leaves (80:1)
Maple leaves (40:1)
Brown grass (20:1)

•Materials High in Nitrogen 
Food scraps (15:1)
Coffee Grounds (20:1)
Green grass (20:1)
Even in large commercial operations, getting the recipe mix just right takes experimenting, based on kitchen output and geographic location.

•Water content
Add water every time you add material and turn the pile. To gauge there is sufficient moisture, you don’t want puddles, but you do want to be able to make a mud-ball, think snowball. Water is a necessity for aerobic microbe’s survival.

•Oxygen
Use bulky browns (twigs...) to allow air in the pile, use a pitch fork to stir up your compost pile. Turning the pile introduces oxygen into it as well. Just be sure to leave materials fluffed up after turning so the pile can continue to aerate itself.  

•Pile Size - Cubic Yard 
A cubic yard (3 x 3 x 3 feet) pile size or larger will have enough mass to form the insulating layer required for achieving the optimum temperatures to exist.

•Particle Size
The greater surface area, the more efficiently microbes will decompose the material. In other words, cut items up into smaller pieces.

•Temperature - 100-145 degrees Fahrenheit
Get the other parameters right and you won’t need to worry about this. The activity of the microbes and insulating mass of organic material will combine to create warmth required for active decomposition.  

•pH of 5.5 - 8.0 
Just like temperature, this will be out of your hands but no worries. When the compost is ready for harvest, the top soil will finish at a neutral pH (7.0). If your pile smells from too much citrus or acidity, add more brown material and readjust your recipe.


Nature 
Decomposition of food scraps has occurred since the beginning of time and a natural step of nature’s eco-system, the renewal phase.  

Microbes (microorganisms, bacteria...) exist by the mega-trillions everywhere on the planet. Of the many types of microbes, it’s the aerobic (O2 required) microbes that decompose/rot natural material and organically generate top soil.  

Worms (earthworms, red wigglers...) exist in the top 20% of soil across the planet and come in different colors, sizes and purpose. Of the many purposes of worms, it’s the top feeding red wigglers that devour food scraps and equivalent browns into worm castings and worm tea, organically generated plant food.  

In nature, leaves fall to the forest floor, moisture accumulates and over time those leaves mix, rot and decompose into nutrient rich soil that feeds the forest and the cycle sustains itself.  

According to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, it takes nature 500 years to generate 1 inch of top soil and minutes for a bulldozer stripping land to remove it.  

At Charles Darwin’s lead, Sir Albert Howard (British Agronomist 1920-40’s in India) found faster ways for soil renewal and managed composting techniques. 

The essence of compost management involves balancing conditions for the aerobic microbes and worms to work most efficiently to generate top soil and plant food in months rather than centuries. To do so, we have to create an optimal environment for aerobic microbes to work at their fastest pace.  


History
The earliest recorded reference to composting was thousands of years before Christ, on clay tablets from the Mesopotamian Valley. The Chinese used composting for thousands of years and the Incas in addition to other environmentally savvy techniques, composted as well.

Texts from the times of the Renaissance to our colonial American culture included the basics and benefits of composting.  

Egyptians used worms to compost and Cleopatra made worms as sacred as the asp.  

At the end of the 19th Century, Charles Darwin noted discovering red wiggler worms could devour into worm castings up to 10 times their body weight daily.

The aforementioned Sir Albert Howard is generally credited with being the father of modern-day composting for his nearly 3 decades of composting research in India and development of the “Indore Method” for composting. His method included layering and turning the pile during the decomposition process. His book, An Agricultural Testament was published in 1943.  

Over the years, the process of composting and worm composting has essentially remained the same. Only the tools, terms and systems for creating optimum conditions for best results and minimizing problems and have been refined to meet the challenges of an increased and more diverse waste stream, urbanized landscapes, and intensifying pressure on the balance of our air, water and soil quality.