Neighborhood Composting Project

I smell bad. Like really bad......

You see, I like to collect my neighbors leftovers...

Nothing gets me more excited than a big bucket full of banana peals, coffee grinds, stale bread and lint from their dryers- HAHA!

I have joked with my neighbors that you really know someone when you pick up their compost material each week. I know who eats peanuts (The Johnson's) and when Rob Hammond has had a great week in the Cookie Business (Eggs for DAYSSSSS)!!! (If you have not had one of Robs famous cookies, go straight to his facebook page and check them out.)

My fellow compost collect and neighbor (and great friend), Jamil Norman said

"I feel like I'm making a small contribution in growing produce like God intended!" Amen!!

What is compost exactly??  

Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed. Composting recycles various organic materials otherwise regarded as waste products and produces a soil conditioner that is rich in nutrients.  Also called "Black Gold".

Since March of this year, I have been going around each week and picking up my neighbors leftovers to make into beautiful rich healthy compost for our garden.

It all started with a post on our neighborhood facebook page asking if anyone would be interested in helping in exchange for treats from our farm. Most of our leftovers all ready goes to our chickens, so our ability to make compost was not very significant. I needed help!! And thankfully, I know have 21 families collecting for us. I went to our local Hardware Store and bought everyone a bucket.

On Sunday evenings, I set out in my Yukon like I'm Waste Management!! Everyone leaves their bucket at their front door for me to pick up and I leave them a clean bucket. 

My dear friend and neighbor Beth Newsom said, 

"Composting has opened our eyes to the type and amount of waste we produce weekly. It makes us want to live a cleaner life while contributing our waste to an awesome family that wants to make a difference" - Awe thank you Beth!!

And here is Beth's husband Rodney who always tries to help me think of logistics on how to work smarter, not harder. 

To help keep everyone motivated about collecting their leftovers, I try to give out things like Eggs from our chickens, or garlic that we grew. 

Sometimes we do a drawing for a free item like one of our tees (We are www.mrpstees.com in our other life) or this past weekend, we gave away a bag of fresh cut okra. I want to make it fun for everyone too.  

Neighbor Richard Paylor said, 

"We love doing the composting, It is really easy to remember. We enjoy it because we feel like we're contributing to something worthwhile, and it helps with the sense of community (or subdahood, whatever you call it). To paraphrase what I've heard said about garage sales, "Our trash is your treasure!!"-- So true Richard!!! Thank you

Once everyones buckets are collected, I bring them all back to our house and take them down to our composting bins in a big wheel barrel. Brent built me 7 bins for all the weekly compost. 

The Chickens are ALWAYS around them!!! Obsessed!!!!! 

This is what it looks like after everyones waste has been put in. Did I mention we also had a class at OCS participate and bring us their waste from home? Thanks for doing that Leslie Bauman!!

 I have def learned a lot. When I have fish heads in it, get ready for the fox to come or the raccoons. And if I don't have enough brown material in it, get ready for a pretty horrible smell. I've had to run to the hardware store a few times to grab a bale of hay or some wood chips to throw in it to tame the stench down, esp when there has been shrimp heads or crawfish tails in it!!!  

Think real life Bog of Eternal Stench (From the movie Labyrinth)

  But, for the most part though, the piles have been okay. 

Can you see all the little maggots in it working hard??? I know that may sound gross, but maggots are a good thing. They help everything break down. 

I turn the compost with a pitch fork to move the air around and also add water.

Every day, I also add in any chicken poop from our girls coop to the pile. I like for them to be clean and their poop is wonderful for the compost.  Plus, the hot summer Louisiana days have really helped "Cook" the compost quickly.

We were just able to use some of the first compost we collected back in March when we planted our pumpkin seeds. I can't wait to see how they do! We did the no- till method with our compost sprinkled on top of the seeds. 

I want to research and figure out how to do this on a bigger scale for our new farm. Having good soil is the basis for everything. Bad soil can effect our entire world and the future of our grandchildren's world. I recently went to a neat class the NRCS put on and they showed how good soil holds the water better when it rains compared to soil that is in bad shape. They did this with a cool rain simulator and jugs of water. As someone who is a visual learner, this was very effective.

"A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself" ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt 

Thanks so much for reading and getting "dirty" with me!!!

Love

Lissy

P.S. I plan to follow up with this blog with another on a how to compost for your own family garden.

P.S.S. Big thank you to Mikey Garoby for always weed eating and helping us keep the farm area neat!!! You are appreciated so much :)

Thank you to

 The Foxes, The Halfords, The Robinsons, The Chandlers, The Newsom, The Carters, The Vickerys, The Hammonds, The Paylors, The Hooglands, The Johnsons, The Breaux Family, The Lancasters, The Normans, The Andersons, The Greens, The Norris Family, The Hiltons,The Baileys and The Cannons for your continued help!!!