When you think of composting, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? If you said food scraps and yard waste you would be correct!

Composting is the natural process of recycling organic matter into a valuable fertilizer that can enrich soil and plants. Think of those leaves that you were once told to rake, or those leftover egg shells after breakfast as a great meal for nature itself. Let’s dig into this a little deeper. (No pun intended)

Decomposition

Decomposing is the final stage of the composting process. Although decomposing is a natural process, composting speeds it up. This is because it creates an all you can eat buffet for organisms such as bacteria and fungi, and critters such as worms, nematodes and sowbugs. (Don’t worry, they have good table manners.)

Not for the faint of stomach, the picture above shows the composting process with worms.

So what is the end result? Soil. Rich soil. In fact, it’s so rich, farmers call it black gold.

Knowledge Check

Let’s see how you’re doing so far.

Composting is Cool

Making sure that Mother Nature stays healthy and beautiful is not only important, but it’s cool too. In fact, a lot of celebrities compost some you may have no idea about.

References

S. H. (2021, November 30). Composting 101. NRDC. Retrieved March 26, 2022, from https://www.nrdc.org/stories/composting-101#whatis