Compost - The Engine of Healthy Soil

By Sam Cummings

Back in early September as I was gearing up for a semester of Farm School, I was considering what to include in our curriculum. It seems that everywhere you turn in the area of organic/regenerative farming, people are talking about soil life. Microbes, bacteria, worms, nematodes, fungi, and more. There are a host of methods to cultivate this soil life; while these are all beneficial at the right place and the right time, one that I particularly enjoy is compost.

Compost may seem like just a big pile of decaying organic matter, and, well, that’s what it is. But inside that pile are billions of microorganisms in countless species, forming complex food webs. Organisms are eating and being eaten, chemical processes are happening, and heat is being produced. The end result is a cubic yard of extremely biologically active material. Those microorganisms have reproduced vigorously, and, once your compost has matured, they are ready to go into your garden and bring their dynamic force of life into your soil and your plants. It’s a fantastically exciting subject that a beginner can understand and an expert can spend years studying.

Who can make compost? Just about anyone with food scraps, a carbon source (plants, leaves, etc) and water. No fancy machines, big plastic cylinders, or diesel trucks needed to start composting. The organisms are already on your food scraps, perched, ready to activate. All they need is your help to get going.

At Blackwood we have three different types of compost, and in the past several weeks it has been my pleasure to have expanded their operation.

The thermophilic (hot) pile has been a low-profile performer so far. It consumes the organic matter and deflates significantly between each period I leave it, but it has not shown the heat I’m looking for. My thought is that it needs more green material (nitrogen) and more woody browns to decrease the bulk density and allow oxygen to come through.

My personal favorite right now is our worms. Known as red wigglers (Eisenia fetida), they are happily wiggling all around our cinder block setup. Their byproduct (poop) is called vermicast, and it is regarded as some of the best quality compost out there. At first I was nervous about my worms surviving in the Houston heat. After the first time I left them, I found a lifeless, dry pile - and my heart sank. But I remained hopeful and added what they needed: water and delicious food scraps. That brought them back up to the surface, and after repeated additions of these ingredients (every 3-4 days) I am happy to say that we have a healthy population of worms! I hope to keep this community growing and eventually fill out the entire cinder block setup, so that we can produce much more high quality compost for our farm.

The final type is black soldier fly larvae. While they might look a little gross, they are powerhouses for organic matter reduction. Once they are matured in the larvae stage, they can be fed to chickens to boost their nutrition (and thus the deliciousness of the eggs they produce). Or, you can simply utilize them as organic matter reducers (food waste makes up a significant portion of municipal waste, so getting rid of it with black soldier fly larvae rather than placing it in a landfill does a lot for our waste companies, landfill capacity, the environment, etc.)

I am so excited to share the wonders of these three types of compost with our Farm School students and any other curious minds that come through our gates this season!