Bokashi Composting


Book Description

The safe, clean, and convenient way to compost all your food scraps. Bokashi is Japanese for "fermented organic matter." Bokashi composting is a safe, quick, and convenient way to compost in your kitchen, garage, or apartment, using a specific group of microorganisms to anaerobically ferment all food waste (including meat and dairy). Since the process takes place in a closed system, insects and smell are controlled, making it ideal for urban or business settings. The process is very fast, with compost usually ready to be integrated into your soil or garden in around two weeks. While bokashi has enjoyed great popularity in many parts of the world, it is still relatively unknown in North America. From scraps to soil, Bokashi Composting is the complete, step-by-step, do-it-yourself guide to this amazing process, with comprehensive information covering: Background-the history, development and scientific basis of the technique Getting started-composting with commercially available products or homemade systems Making your own-system plans and bokashi bran recipes using common materials and locally sourced ingredients Growing-improving your soil with fermented compost and bokashi juice. This essential guide is a must-read for gardeners, homeowners, apartment dwellers, traditional composters, and anyone who wants a safe, simple, and convenient way to keep kitchen waste out of the landfill.




Compost City


Book Description

The ultimate guide to individual- and community-scale composting in small urban spaces—with illustrations, expert tips, fun DIY projects, and much more These days, everyone’s talking about compost. Along with backyard chickeners, balcony beekeepers, rooftop farmers, and community gardeners, urban composters are part of a bumper crop of pioneers who are redefining the green space of crowded towns and cities. You may think you need a big yard to compost. Think again. Compost City teaches you how to easily choose and care for a compost system that fits perfectly into your (tiny) space, (busy) schedule, and (multifaceted) lifestyle. Whether you live in a cramped apartment or a sprawling town house, or you dream of composting in a shared space with a group of friends or colleagues, Compost City provides simple and effective indoor and outdoor composting options. Packed with research, expert testimonies, and a healthy dose of humor, this guide will help you: • Compost your food scraps and yard waste with ease • Ease your fears of backbreaking labor, obnoxious odors, big messes, and creepy crawlies (hint: you can compost successfully without any of the above!) • Convince compost-wary family, friends, neighbors, and community leaders to green-light your compost dreams Compost City serves all eco-curious citizens from casual hobbyists to staunch activists. So put your compost cap on. Whether you compost one tea bag or whole honking barrelfuls of scraps at a time, you’re about to have a whole lot of fun.




Garden Myths


Book Description

Garden Myths examines over 120 horticultural urban legends. Turning wisdom on its head, Robert Pavlis dives deep into traditional garden advice and debunks the myths and misconceptions that abound. He asks critical questions and uses science-based information to understand plants and their environment. Armed with the truth, Robert then turns this knowledge into easy-to-follow advice. - Is fall the best time to clean the garden? - Do bloom boosters work?- Will citronella plants reduce mosquitoes in the garden?- Do pine needles acidify soil?- Should tomatoes be suckered?- Should trees be staked at planting time? - Can burlap keep your trees warm in winter?- Will a pebble tray increase humidity for houseplants? "Garden Myths is a must-read for anyone who wants to use environmentally sound practices. This fascinating and informative book will help you understand plants better, reduce unnecessary work, convince you to buy fewer products and help you enjoy gardening more."




No-Waste Composting


Book Description

In No-Waste Composting, you’ll discover the hows and whys of composting and find over a dozen practical step-by-step plans for building both indoor and outdoor composting systems that require a minimal amount of space. “I don’t have enough space to compost.” “I don’t know what’s safe to compost and what isn’t.” “I live in the city, so I don’t think I can compost.” “Indoor composting systems are smelly.” “I don’t have a garden, so I don’t need to compost.” If any of these is your excuse for not composting, then this is the book for you! Small-space composting has never been easier, more efficient, and more eco-friendly. Composting keeps millions of tons of waste out of landfills and creates carbon-sequestering, nutrient-dense compost that can be used to help fuel plant growth (including houseplants!) and build soil health. Build a DIY worm-composting system for a cupboard or garage Craft a layered, under-the-sink composting system from terra cotta pots Construct a simple outdoor compost bin from repurposed wooden pallets Use upcycled wire fencing to build a mobile composting system on the driveway Learn how to compost larger sticks and branches to build new food and flower gardens Upcycle a plastic bucket to make an indoor compost fermenting system Plus, you’ll find plans to keep cat and dog waste out of the landfill by using a groundbreaking (and safe) DIY composting system. And if you don’t garden, author and composting professional Michelle Balz offers plenty of other ways you can utilize the wonderful, crumbly compost you create. Whether you’re just starting your no-waste journey or you’re a seasoned recycling and repurposing pro, No-Waste Composting is an invaluable tool to have at your side. This book is part of the Cool Springs Press No-Waste Gardening series, which also includes No-Waste Kitchen Gardening and No-Waste Organic Gardening.




The Ecological Gardener


Book Description

Design a garden for the future—because what we grow matters. "Matt Rees-Warren explains why every square inch of Earth, including our gardens, has ecological significance... Excellent, timely, essential!" —Douglas W. Tallamy, author of Nature’s Best Hope Transform your garden into a self-sustaining haven for nature and wildlife. Ecological garden designer Matt Rees-Warren shares inspirational design ideas and practical projects to help you create a garden that is both beautiful today and sustainable tomorrow. The Ecological Gardener will give you the tools to create an abundant, healthy garden from the soil up—a garden that welcomes birds and bees and allows native planting and wild flowers to flourish, with minimal carbon impact or need for fresh water. This book can guide both novice and experienced gardeners alike in their journey to a more ecological approach, and is full of practical projects and information, including: Finding the right design for your space Creating a wildflower meadow Building rainwater catchments and other tips for water conservation Making compost from kitchen waste, leaf mold, compost tea and more Creating a space for wildlife such as hedgehogs, bees and other pollinators Finding beauty in your garden during the winter Matt will show you how to re-imagine how you garden, working with nature instead of controlling it, to create a space that promotes both wildlife and beauty.




Organic Waste Composting through Nexus Thinking


Book Description

Organic waste composting is another excellent example to demonstrate the power and the benefits of nexus thinking. Even though organic waste composting itself is not a new topic, those who want to start a new project or align an ongoing project with nexus thinking, find it difficult to gather the necessary information. With nine case studies from four continents, this book aims to fill above gap in literature. While current literature on composting is often found to be limited to either soil/agriculture sector or waste management sector, this book presents a combined point of view. This open access book starts with an introductory chapter that describes the need to bring the waste management aspects and soil nutrient management aspects of compost production into one integrated theme. The relevance of nexus thinking and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are also presented in this introduction. The first three chapters after the introduction covers composting from the solid waste management and its policy aspects, taking examples from three developing countries. The next three examples are mostly about the benefits composting can provide to the soil and agriculture. These examples are also from three developing countries, but with a mixture of urban as well as rural settings. Last three chapters present more insight into the latest developments taking examples from Europe, as well as new methods adapted from the traditional styles from Africa.




Compost Everything


Book Description

If you're ready to throw out the rule book and return as much as you can to the soil, Compost Everything is the book for you. It's time to quit fighting Mother Nature and start working with her to recycle organic matter and create lush and beautiful gardens with some of the most extreme composting techniques known to Man!In this inspiring composting guide, you'll learn how to??brew your own fish fertilizer with a few easy ingredients?quit turning piles and make compost the simple way?avoid roasting your garden with chemical-laced manure?discover the Native American trick for concentrating fertility and growing in lousy soil?squeeze every ounce of fertility from your compost?deal with grid-down sanitation?stop filling landfills and start enriching your yard?turn "trash" into treasure...get rid of unwanted bodies.Learn to compost like you've never composted before with expert gardener and master composter David the Good.




The Pet Poo Pocket Guide


Book Description

Get the scoop on reducing the environmental footprint of your furry friends Eighty-three million dogs and ninety-six million cats call the United States home. Dogs alone produce enough waste to fill more than 1,091 football fields 1 foot deep in a single year. Add billions of plastic pick-up bags to the mix and season well with tons of litter box waste. Scoop a hefty portion into local landfills and seal it tightly to ensure optimal methane production. Clearly, this is a recipe for disaster. Dog and cat owners who trash their pets' offerings daily are in denial about how much waste is produced and what happens to it. Those who want to make the responsible choice often turn to the internet, only to find misleading, confusing, and contradictory information. The Pet Poo Pocket Guide will help you reduce your pet's environmental paw print with: Best practices for cycling pet waste back to nature Suggestions on how to tailor your approach based on location, situation, weather, needs, or available time Instructions for using your composted pet waste safely to enrich your soil and nourish ornamental plants With recycling tactics clearly indicated as "easy," "moderate," or "demanding," The Pet Poo Pocket Guide offers something for everyone. This no-nonsense guide is a must-read for any pet owner who is concerned about the environmental impact of their best friend, and is seeking a safe and practical solution. Rose Seemann is the owner and operator of EnviroWagg, a company dedicated to collecting and composting canine waste into safe, nutrient-rich garden soil.




Finding Yourself in the Kitchen


Book Description

Many books teach the mechanics of cooking and even inspire us to cook; not many dwell on the kitchen's ability to be a place of awakening and joy. In Finding Yourself in the Kitchen, Dana Velden asks you to seek deeper meaning in this space and explores what cooking can teach about intimacy, failure, curiosity, and beauty. Finding Yourself in the Kitchen is a book of essays, each focused on a cooking theme that explores how to practice mindfulness in the kitchen--and beyond--to discover a more deeply experienced life. It also offers meditation techniques and practical kitchen tips, including 15 of Velden's own favorite recipes. What happens when we find ourselves in the kitchen? What vitalizes, challenges, and delights us there? An extension of her popular "Weekend Meditation" column on TheKitchn.com, this book offers you the chance to step back and examine your life in a more inspired way. The result is a reading experience that satisfies, nourishes and inspires.




HowExpert Guide to Composting


Book Description

If you want to learn about composting, then get “HowExpert Guide to Composting.” Maybe you have just learned about composting or maybe you knew about it but did not know where to start. This book is your go-to guide to learn all about composting and what it will entail. With easy to digest chapters and informative sections, you will learn: · How to choose a compost bin · Whether to put your compost bin indoors or outdoors · Hot composting versus cold composting · What organic material to compost, including “greens and browns” · Waste that should not be composted · How to begin adding and layering the organic waste to your bin · The importance of aerating your bin · All about what to do after your compost is done decomposing, including sifting and testing the compost · Different methods of composting, from using worms to fermenting · Commercial composting and how composting works on a large scale · How compost benefits your garden and helps with yard work · The role compost plays in providing nutrients to plants · Benefits that compost provides for humans · How compost can save the environment and save you money · Why compost can be an important tool in STEM curriculum and for bettering yourself as a person · The history of compost, from methods used by ancient civilizations to early composters to composting nowadays Get “HowExpert Guide to Composting” Today! About the Expert Keilin Huang is an avid composting enthusiast and passionate about educating others on the wonders of the natural process of decomposition. She currently has her own vermicompost bin in her New York City apartment that’s filled with worms whose names all start with W. In her free time, she acts as a volunteer for her local community garden, which has an enclosed outdoor bin with an aerator; in addition, she also helps out at the New York Botanical Garden’s Children’s Garden, where she helps kids discover the magic of worms and growing your own vegetables. When she’s not composting, Keilin enjoys reading fiction and graphic novels, biking around her neighborhood, traveling by train, and writing snail mail. HowExpert publishes quick 'how to' guides on all topics from A to Z by everyday experts.