The Compost Bandit

Reader Contribution by Aaron Miller
Published on November 27, 2013
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I always get a little smile on my face when I see people bagging up their grass clippings or leaves in preparation to throw them away. They don’t even realize what they have. What valuable materials they are thoughtlessly tossing off to a landfill. Just like the pre-Columbus Native Americans who had gold lying around but never gave it the value the Europeans who came to conquer them did. As I get more into gardening and gain the knowledge of microbes and the ecosystems we can create, it’s empowering to think about all the rich material I have on my small ¼ acre lot.

All the limbs I cut down are used in multiple ways. The large ones get cut into logs for our summer campfires under the stars. The smaller ones are the kindling or plant stakes. If the power goes out it gives me the comfort of knowing I can keep my family warm and fed without the need of a gas powered generator. This is not only good for me but also good for my fruit trees that the limbs come from. It allows for new growth to come in and help the tree stay healthy for years to come.

The leaves f

rom those branches are used as compost. With most experts saying you need 25 units carbon to 1 unit nitrogen (but never explaining exactly what a “unit” is) I need all the brown stuff I can get my hands on. I pull the leaves off and let them dry a bit so that I can then run them down with my reel mower into smaller pieces. This makes it easier to breakdown and thus it breakdowns faster. Without a good amount of this brown material for my compost it won’t have the right texture or beneficial organism growth, and therefore a lower potential nutrient capacity than it could have. All free from my own yard.

I also use the leaves and grass clipping as mulch. I really love the idea of mulch because like compost, it does so many good things without taking much effort from me. My favorite chores are those that make my life easier. Placing the leaves or grass clippings in my garden beds help keep the soil moist during warm weather and warm during cold weather. It provides food for the healthy micro-organisms that break that organic material down as well as protection for the worms, beetles and other arthropods who keep the soil fertilized and loose as they crawl around eating those smaller microbes.

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