The best thing about raising food in a garden is harvesting-

It can be a chore, but harvesting is also a calming experience. If I close my eyes right now, I am brought back to a late summer morning. The girls and I are collecting plum tomatoes in buckets. There is still some dew lingering on the grass surrounding the garden. I can feel the warm soil under my feet…I can smell the tomato plants. I’m not really a raw tomato fan, but I love the smell of the plants. I feel happiness. It’s a meditative moment for me that I can travel back to anytime.

Without properly balancing the soil, our plants wouldn’t meet their potential.

Besides soil testing, we also utilize compost and compost tea to promote ultimate growth for our plants. When Joe and I initially moved into our house, there was a small compost bin in the backyard. We would add a few things to it and turn it once in a while. However, we quickly found that the small bin wasn’t meeting the needs of our garden or processing the waste properly.

We decided to take a closer look at what we could compost.

After conducting some research, we found that a majority of our food waste could be composted. For convenient storage, we use old Olivia’s Organics greens plastic bins to separate scraps for the chickens and the compostable items. Food waste that attracts scavengers (typically meat) is thrown in the garbage.

I had used some fancy bins that had charcoal filters to reduce smells, but they never seemed to work. The plastic bins don’t look pretty on our counter, but they get the job done! If they get too gross, they are washed out and recycled.

Other biodegradable items, such as chicken coop waste, grass cuttings, and leaves are deposited into the compost. We don’t add cow or horse manure because that waste contains undigested seeds which, if not processed properly, later become weeds and grass for us to pull out of our garden. A compost pile needs to be turned every couple of weeks in order to continue breaking down the organic matter. Most of the time, Joe uses a tiller because our compost pile is so large.

The final results: additional compost for the garden and less waste ending up in a landfill. Seems like a win/win!

What is compost tea?

Compost tea is a concoction of compost and liquid. It is brewed to encourage existing bacteria to multiply exponentially. The bacteria breaks down the organic matter in the soil for the plant food. Overnight, you can breed billions of bacteria. This bacteria is beneficial to the plants and deter pesky insects and diseases. Obviously when you have an organic garden, you are unable to use pesticides, so an alternative method is needed.

This Joe’s recipe, which makes enough to fertilize an acre:

2 cups of compost
1 Tbsp organic unsulphured molasses
1 Tbsp liquid kelp fertilizer
1 Tsp of liquid fish fertilizer
5 gallon bucket with room temperature water*

Directions: Stir all the ingredients together. Using an aerator from a fish tank, let sit and bubble for 24 hours. However, after 12 hours, add more molasses. In a large 2 gallon watering pail pour two cups of tea and then fill with water. Water your crops liberally with this mixture and repeat the process until the compost tea is depleted.