CENTRAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, PROVIDENCE, RI

• Composting yard, garden and food waste on a small scale should be a must for all individuals who care about the environment, your municipal tax bill, and the health of your lawn and garden.  I know many people at Central already compost, so I may be preaching to the already converted.  For Peter and myself, being in a condominium makes it impossible in Providence, but we did begin composting in New Hampshire at our lake cottage last summer.  For those who are new at this, here is some information that is helpful:
• In order for chemical and biological processes to take place in your waste, there should be a ratio of carbon to nitrogen – (C:N); specifically 30:1, with carbon representing the higher number.  Don’t worry too much about the math, but carbon is the mostly “brown” stuff like fall leaves, newspaper, cardboard, pine needles paper towels, tea bags, coffee grounds and sawdust as examples.   The nitrogen or “green” stuff would be found in grass clippings, kitchen scraps, and any fresh cuttings from your garden. Be sure that you don’t compost chemically treated lawn material unless the temperature in your pile is high and you wait a year to spread the “wealth.” Also, don’t compost any meat,bones, dairy, dog and cat waste.
• There are 4 components to tending  a compost pile, one of which I have already mentioned.  The pile should be moist like a wrung out sponge, aerated from time to time by turning with a pitchfork or shovel (unless you have one of the fancy rotating barrels), and materials in a manageable size to speed up the composting process – called the surface area/particle size component.
• There are a number of container methods called “holding units” that can be used.  Wire fencing, plastic bins that can be obtained at hardware stores and from catalogues, and homemade containers using wooden pallets tied together.  We purchased our container quite inexpensively at our landfill facility inNew Hampshire.  My son-in-law has the easiest method I know – he has a non-structured “heap’ in his woods behind the house.  It works!
• There is what is called a “food web” present in your compost as it begins decomposing.  I won’t go into the gory details about the various fungi, worms, mites, beetles and the rest that are working to make your waste into beautiful compost, but the point is that as they are working so hard to break down your waste, the temperature rises, speeding up the microbial decomposition process.
• Here are a few facts that should influence your decision to compost.  Yard waste makes up a little over 20% of the waste stream; paper and paper products over 35% and food waste, 9%.  If all of this material were composted and put to use to fertilize, aerate and nourish our yards and gardens, we would not be poisoning our land and water with the dangerous chemical fertilizers that are in turn harming all of us.  In addition, there is a tipping fee that all municipalities pay to our landfill facility.  Anything over a predetermined rate is added expense to taxpayers.  On the environmental side, dangerous methane gas and an acidic liquid drainage is produced by organic waste in our landfill.
• In my “master composting” class at URI, we had the opportunity to visit Earth Care Farm in Charlestown.  Mike Merner, the owner, composts on a commercial level that is mindboggling.  He even gets waste from the Roger Williams Zoo, specifically elephant dung.  Also, Pt. Judith provides fish waste, Starbucks and other coffee houses provide needed grounds.   He has many sources of his waste, all of which culminates in the most beautiful rich compost I have ever seen.  You might want to take a trip there to see this marvelous operation.  In addition there are websites offering details on composting including one in our own backyard – URI at www.uri.edu <http://www.uri.edu/> By the way, the program director for the composting class will be speaking on this subject February 8 at 10 a.m. at Central.  Although it is a garden club event, all are invited.  Other sources are: Rhode Island Resource and Recovery atwww.rirrc.org <http://www.rirrc.org/> and Northeast Recycling Council at www.nerc.org<http://www.nerc.org/> .  There are many more but this will get you started.
• (There are members of the church who do worm composting.  Janice Schmidt has done it for many years.  For those who can afford the space inside, that is another alternative.)

Happy composting!  Jeri von Stein