Make Just One Change Series: Composting!
As I researched about composting in order to start my own family's composting journey, today's guest blogger really inspired me. Kristi Caggiano is a design consultant specializing in low-water use hummingbird and butterfly gardens, Smartscape Certified, Arizona Certified Landscape Professional (ALCA), member of Arizona Federation of Garden Clubs, and a Master Gardener Volunteer. You can find her on Instagram @miraclehavengarden and @rebelcompost. Learn about her new book FAIL-PROOF COMPOSTING at here.
IF the word “compost” makes you roll your eyes and grimace - trust me! I feel your pain. For nearly a decade I tried to make compost and it didn’t work. My piles didn’t turn to rich, dark soil. They basically sat. Friends told me their piles stunk and buzzed with flies. Mine didn’t. Mine quite literally did nothing.
Let me roll back to the bright, hopeful day I called my city landfill to request a free compost bin (...which also came with a free black widow spider. My flip-flop did her in. And I learned it’s wise to check anything you acquire from a landfill before loading it in your SUV.)
I wanted to make compost because I needed soil for a raised-garden-bed. In the Arizona desert our native soil is rock hard and not suited to growing flowers or veggies. You may have a different reason for composting.
It’s great for the environment.
Returns nutrients to the earth.
Approximately 25% of all landfill content could be made into compost instead.
So what turned the experience around for me? I teamed up with an expert! I learn best by observation, so I worked alongside her, studied what we were doing and realized there were ten simple facts I should follow to succeed. Our piles didn’t stink, didn’t attract houseflies and rapidly transformed!
After grasping these simple facts, I became so excited about composting I began turning thousands of pounds of garbage into compost. Now I have seven enormous raised-beds filled with flowers, veggies and fruits. And I wrote a colorful, pretty book detailing the process.
If you’d like to make just one change for the Earth - consider composting. Start with a banana peel! Drop it in the compost pile. Cover it with dried leaves or shredded paper. Sprinkle it with a bit of water and continue to build your pile this way - Half Fresh & Half Dried™️ content until the pile is completely full! Begin to turn the pile and maintain balanced moisture. Repeat until it transforms.
Easy as that. One simple banana peel and you’ve begun to change the Earth!
Visit Kristi's Kickstarter link on our Facebook page. Which change will you make to help the earth? We challenge you to make just one change! Read the rest of the "Make Just One Change" series here.