Let's Talk Trash

First things first. “No chickens were harmed in the making of this post.”I’m only a part time weekend permaculture hippie farmer. The rest of the week I live a fairly hectic normal boring life wondering how the heck anyone can afford to eat– let alone eat organic.  I digress. We are talking trash.Full disclaimer aside – I did something recently that excites my inner hippie.

Do you know what this is??

Do you know what the chickens are doing?? Ahh…good chickens. Scratch away!

That’s right — a compost bin.And not just any old DIY compost bin, but an AWESOME HUGE DIY COMPOST BIN conveniently situated across from the chicken coop.

That’s the closest I’ve come to farm space planning in a long time. Chickens are useful to turn the compost as they root around for bugs and scraps. In turn this converts the brooder bedding and aged horse manure into compost — humus. (not to be confused with hummus–yum hummus).“But  I don’t have a ton of brooder bedding and horse poop accumulated to do something like that” says average mom in the burbs. ” What’s a normal suburban dwelling permaculture hippie wannabe supposed to do?

”Start small. Do what you can. Make a difference."

What would happen if you skip the Miracle Gro for the tomatoes, flowers, etc. and ordered  your very own organic fertilizer maker? What you say? What on earth is that?

What if I told you the benefits are two-fold since you will use your kitchen scraps to make the fertilizer?The technical permaculture hippee term is vermicomposting.

By definition: (thank you wikipedia)Vermicomposting is the process of using worms and micro-organisms to turn kitchen waste into a black, earthy-smelling, nutrient-rich humus.Since I constructed a DIY heap of trash complete with optional chicken scratching accessories, I did not go the Amazon.com “you can buy anything on earth and we’ll deliver to your door” route. But for any of you interested in sharing in hippieness, Amazon has made it easy for anyone. They have several DIY worm composting kits, and I must say they are highly rated and look easy to use.

For those of you in more of a hurry, the same people offer the worm castings already all ready to use: Another disclaimer: If you enjoy my ramblings and happen to buy anything off Amazon from the links in this website, Amazon sends a few pennies my way used to support this site and keep it up and running.If anyone does run out and order a worm composter, I’d love to hear about it and your worm farming adventures.Cheers!