Composting 101

One of the most important rules in sustainable agriculture is:

When you take, you must replace!

Conventional agriculture has totally missed the mark in this regard.  When you pick a vegetable from the garden, it has many nutrients. 

Where do you think those nutrients came from?

Yes, the soil.  When you take something from the soil and fail to replace it, what do you think will happen?

Exactly!  The soil will contain fewer of those nutrients in the future, and consequently, the next crop will contain fewer nutrients.  Eventually,

the soil will become depleted of macronutrients AND of micronutrients!

Chemical fertilizers contain an abundant amount of just three nutrients (Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium) that do nothing to improve the long-term vitality of the soil.  In addition, they over-stimulate the soil biota to the point that with continual exposure, the soil becomes fatigued, depleted and eroded. 

Chemical fertilizers actually cause soil to be consumed.

This is not a technique that will revitalize Africa’s soils!

Composting is one such technique that complements permaculture / forest garden systems.  Good compost contains all the nutrients that synthetic fertilizers contain, AND MORE.  It is far more complete and balanced with nutrients, and has an ability to support soil biota that chemical fertilizers can never do. 

Compost is organic material that has been reduced to its simplest form.  It is the foundation for building humus.  Humus adds vital nutrients to the soil, balances the soil with a wide range of nutrients plants need for growth, aids in the growth of microbes (soil biota) which give plants the nutrients they need when they need them, improves the water holding capacity of the soil, helps sandy soils retain water, and helps to loosen clay soils.  It is a natural and completely safe fertilizer that builds strength in the soil.  Strong soil helps plants grow fast and resist disease.  Unlike with chemical fertilizers, it is hard to add too much compost to the garden.

Most Africans are still ignorant of composting basics.   Because composting can be made with any organic material available in the area, there is not much incentive for private companies to promote its use. People are much more familiar with chemical fertilizers, as companies all over the world make a tidy profit on its sale.  Lacking the heavy promotion that has supported the adoption of chemical fertilizers, many Africans are still not aware of the more complete benefits of compost.

My goal is to help balance the scales and educate more people as to the benefits of compost and how easy to is to make. 

To make compost, you need just three things:

organic material

water

oxygen

 

That’s it!

It is simple and replicateable for every man, woman, and child who wishes to naturally enrich their garden soil.   Most importantly, its simplicity and price (free) make it a technology that is definitely applicable to the third world context. 

Because when you take care of the earth,

the earth will take care of you.

So on December 16^th, I had a meeting at my counterpart’s garden to teach basic composting techniques to ten lead farmers in the area.  (My counterpart and I also taught double digging bed preparation and its efficacy in permaculture.) 

Some participants in my compost making class.

 

For the uninitiated, how does one make really good compost in Africa?

1.    Add a variety of organic materials and wood ash.  Available components can include peanut shells, millet chaff, green tree leaves (especially those that fix nitrogen), dry leaf litter, rumen contents from a recently slaughtered cow, weeds, spent tea leaves, fruit peels, spoiled food, and manure from most farm animals.

2.    Avoid adding inorganic materials.  This includes glass, partially degraded plastic bags, broken sandals, worn out clothing with holes in the wrong places, and dead batteries.

3.    Add ingredients in layers.

4.    Use some termite soil.  Termite soil contains essential nutrients, beyond the reach of crop roots, that are brought to the surface by termites. 

5.    Avoid adding too much soil.  This will smother the compost pile and hinder oxygen from getting to the microbes.

6.    When you are making the compost pile, water every two layers.

7.    Keep the compost moist but not under water.

8.    Turn the compost at least every two weeks to give the microbes oxygen and expose the microbes to un-decomposed organic material.

9.    Really good compost is dark brown or black and has a sweet, earthy smell like the forest.

Additionally, compost piles made in the dry season in Africa are entirely or partially made in a hole to diminish evaporation of water from the pile.  Though it is not so hot in December, the temperatures will begin to climb in February.

Intentionally making compost does take two to three months.  Nature is in the process of making compost everyday.  With regular rains, organic material is continually being transformed into humus.  However, when the rainy season ends, this process stops.   Given water, this organic material will continue its progression into compost. 

There is one aspect of compost making I enjoy teaching: 

Where to find already made or partially made compost?

If you live near a river, you can often find piles of organic material that have been deposited by the water flow and have started to decompose.  This partial compost can definitely be added to a compost pile.  (Of course, any inorganic material should be removed first.) 

Another source of finished compost or nearly finished compost is from villagers who don’t understand the benefits of soil enrichment.  Instead of using animal manure from their livestock to improve the soil in their garden or field, they choose to pack it into a rice sack and throw it into the bush.

No, I am not kidding!

I, always the resourceful individual, stumbled upon these sacks thrown into the fields.  Often, the manure is nearly decomposed, having been left undisturbed during the rainy season. Occasionally, there is too much trash mixed in with the manure to make it useable.

Could that be a bag of manure... or something else?

And once in a while, I’ll find something inside the bag that I wasn’t expecting.

Like the time I spotted a bulging rice sack 100 or so yards from the road.

“Another sack of gold for the garden,” I thought to myself.

When I got close and took a peak inside…

Nope.

DEAD GOAT!

Oops.

Not something I want in my compost.

At least in my counterpart’s garden, there is no shortage of compost.   Come rainy season (a long 6 months away), we plan to have numerous compost piles already made with nearby weeds, manure, etc. to receive the bountiful rainfall that occurs between June and October.  The only work we will have to do is to turn the pile every two weeks.  And voila!  A bumper crop of compost!

This compost could even become an income generating activity!

So, who wants to make some compost?