Waste to wealth, is very common “Simile”. You may have heard this so often. I firmly believe that this simile can be best explained through composting.
I would encourage you to compost with your children and literally turn your food waste into black gold or compost.
Our highlighted picture today is of our workshop attendee, Nalini. You can see, how she has used the pot with the bottles, for composting so beautifully.
The compost process is very easy. Today I will explain to you a simple way to compost, with your kids. This was my first experiment with compost. It’s a very visual process, perfect for inquisitive minds. You will get to witness 1st hand how the food waste heats up and reduces by 75-80%. Its amazing to see all the your bright coloured fruits and veggies magically reduce in size and turn into rich black gold.
If you plan to compost all your house hold waste through this method it may take longer. For composting all your house hold waste, I recommend you to check out my video on composting . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPhucffEr6w .It will give you the basics on composting your food waste. And help you get started.
My suggestion is to involve your kids. Allow your child to be responsible for a transparent bottle( plastic) of compost. If you have 2 then let each of them have their own bottle.
Into this bottle can go all types of peels, leftover food, veg and non veg, even hair and nails. (I have been informed that compost made from hair has the highest nutrition!) . Let the kids monitor how many grams of waste goes into the bottle and the number of days it takes to fill the same.
It’s best if you compost in a 1litre bottle or bigger.
Composting requires a mix of both wet waste and dry waste. So along with your wet waste you can add dried leaves, brown husks of the coconut, even non coloured tissue papers ( shredded to bits) can be added.
If you add only dry waste you will not get compost. If you add only wet waste again your process may emit a foul smell. This is because, the golden triangle of compost is ATM – Air, Temperature , Moisture and Micro organisms . Air comes from stirring the compost and the dry waste insures there is circulation of air even in the heart of the pile. The other elements come from the wet waste. Hence both are required to compost. As a thumb rule you should have 75% wet waste and 25% dry waste by volume.
The beauty of composting by this method is that you will actually be witness to the composting process. It’s nature’s way of recreating life.
1) After 3-4 days you will notice the bright reds, yellows and greens, all turn to brown .
2) after 3 days you will also notice small droplets of water along the vertical surface of your bottle.
3) if you put your hand near the mouth of the bottle you may even be able to feel the heat, emitting from the within !!
4) After 10-12 days your completely full bottle will be 75% empty.
5) After 15 – 20 days, you can remove the bottle. Scoop out the compost and allow it to sit in a shady place for a week, before you can use it for your plants.
Now is when the real magic starts. After using this compost, your soil literally comes alive, your plants look healthier and greener. You will most definitely witness an increase in flowers and fruits.
For our little gardener, now is the time to make a sketch book and draw out the new bugs (read good bugs) that will come to visit your plants, from colourful lady bugs to longhorn beetles. If you’re lucky even a praying mantis… they take care of your plants , eat up the bad bugs give you lots of flowers and most importantly grow and nurture a young mind.
Now more than ever, we need to get our children to think in terms of sustainable growth and eat health. What better way to get them to eat healthy than making them the green grower of your family…
Cheers to happy plants, magical compost, yummy greens and a healthy family!!!
I have attached below a video on how to make the bottle composter.
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