Читать книгу Organic Book of Compost - Pauline Pears - Страница 8

People have been making compost, in some form or another, for thousands of years. But in fact what they have really been doing is simply replicating, in a rather more organized form, what nature has been doing for a great deal longer. You only have to “kick” your way across a woodland floor to see the quality of nature’s compost! So, composting is a process that is as old as time, but it is also totally up-to-date, ticking all the boxes for a sustainable, twenty-first century lifestyle.

COMPOSTING FOR GROWING

A plant takes up minerals from the soil as it grows. When it dies it decays and is taken back into the soil by worms and other creatures. The same happens to animals. This is how nature recycles nutrients, so the land continues to be productive. Until the advent of “artificial,” man-made fertilizers around 60 years ago, this was also the way gardeners and farmers kept their land fertile. Then the majority abandoned recycling and compost-making in favour of the “granules from the bag.” Of course, the plant and animal wastes that had once been recycled in farms and gardens had to be disposed of somehow. Burning and dumping waste in landfill sites were two popular options – both with environmental drawbacks.

This became the common practice, apart from those committed to organic farming and gardening. Lawrence D. Hills, founder of Garden Organic, was one of those who were not convinced that the “chemical” road was the one to follow for long-term sustainability. In the twenty-first century, his fears appear to have been well founded.

Every part of the garden will benefit from the addition of compost.

Worms will work their way through a huge variety of compostable waste, turning it into a valuable resource.

COMPOST AS WASTE DISPOSAL

In the 1990s a number of apparently disparate issues came together – and the result was compost! Environmentalists called for strategies for waste minimization and recycling, proposing a target of 25 percent for household waste recycling by the year 2000. Local authorities realized that recycling bottles, paper and other items alone could not meet this target. They began to consider how to deal with the “putrescible” fraction of the waste (items such as kitchen and garden waste that can rot and smell), which made up around 30–40 percent of the contents of the average garbage can at that time. One relatively low-cost partial solution to the problem was home composting. Since then composting has become a recognized method of waste disposal.

At that time Garden Organic was one of the main sources of practical advice on home composting. It set up a local authority membership scheme to deal with the flood of enquiries. Other organizations helped localities minimize waste and make best use of resources. Home composting programs enabled local authorities to encourage home composting, in particular offering low-cost compost bins to householders.

EDUCATION AND SUPPORT

It became clear that more education and support was needed if the local residents were to compost effectively. It was to help address this issue that Garden Organic started its Master Composter scheme – based on the US model. Garden Organic’s Master Composters are volunteers who spend time promoting home composting in their local community, encouraging householders to take up composting and ensuring those already composting continue to do so effectively. Master Composters come from many backgrounds and age groups; their unifying feature is their enthusiasm for encouraging more environmentally friendly waste management practices. Volunteers, after the necessary training, work in their community to promote composting and to give help and advice to individuals, communities and schools.

FROM PIGS TO WORMS

The lifestyle and living conditions of the new generations being encouraged to make compost meant that composting methods needed an update. The traditional advice – to make a large compost heap, carefully constructed over a short period of time, that heated up to steaming temperatures and was turned regularly – was no longer appropriate for the majority wanting to use composting as a means of waste management. Fortunately, composting still works very well in smaller, neat-looking compost bins that are filled on an ad hoc basis and otherwise ignored.

The Centre for Alternative Technology took a fresh look at what could be composted from the waste items produced by modern households. This turned out to be kitchen waste and lots of low-grade cardboard and paper. This led to the development of the high-fiber heap using just these items. Adding egg boxes, cardboard cartons, and so on to a compost bin is now common practice.

The move to vegetable-based printing inks removed the concern over contamination from cadmium and other heavy metals traditionally used in printing.

In the past, many households would have kept a pig in the back yard to convert food scraps into manure and useful meat. The modern equivalent, but without the smell, is worm composting. Worms for fishing bait are raised on compostable waste. As you don’t need a garden to make worm compost, it extends the scope of composting considerably.

DANGERS?

There were rumors that home composting, that most innocuous of pastimes, might have its dangers. This came out of the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic in the UK, which cost the country millions. It relates to the composting of food waste from domestic kitchens. The fear was that unless the disposal of this waste was strictly controlled, foot-and-mouth disease would continue to spread.

Fortunately, home composting is still quite legal and generally safe. It is fine to make compost on the premises where it originates, and to use the compost on the land at those premises, as long as pigs or ruminants (cattle, goats and sheep) are not kept there. If there is poultry on the premises, composting may be done, but it must be done in a closed container.

FULL CIRCLE

The recent revival of interest in growing fruit and vegetables at home and in allotments, now with many more people using organic methods, takes us full circle. Homemade compost is just what the garden needs to grow healthy, productive crops, in a sustainable way.

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is made easier and more sustainable if you make your own valuable compost.