Compost cycles
Last year's pile of garden-weeds-and-kitchen-scraps compost
is pretty much empty. You can see what remains of it in front of one of
the covered fig trees in this photo. Basically, a few okra stalks and
squash vines weren't entirely composted, but everything else has been
spread on the garden to feed spring carrots and summer tomatoes.
The next round of garden fertilization will come from goat-barn leavings,
but I'm already building the third installment in the series. The pile
in the foreground of the photo comes from beds cleared to make way for
broccoli and cabbage...and maybe the resulting humus will feed more
broccoli and cabbage in the fall?
Circles and cycles.
Closing the fertility loop is a bit like saving seeds. You have to think
months ahead, but once you get your plans down pat there's not much
extra effort involved.
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.