Kitchen Waste Unlimited as Compost

When I was younger, I wanted to be a manager right away. Of course, those were water under the bridge. I am now a manager, but, a household manager. I didn’t imagine that being one is sooo hard that I must engage time. Sometimes, the moment I stop working, it is already 3 p.m. The best part of working in my own house is, I can manage my siesta, which is usually after 12 p.m. when my husband has left for work. I thought then that the term “household manager” when it was first adopted in the ninety’s way back my SSS days, was a joke. What else does it mean but a housewife, and the term housewife does not sound important back in my days. It is like you are just a wife who stays at home and doesn’t do anything. The position is not appreciated. Well, not in these El Nino days and dumpsites are running out and sorting out the garbage alone is already really a job. Because by doing so, I know I am helping the environment (understatement), and in the ultimate I am helping myself. Why? Because I keep mosquitoes and other sickness and infection causing insects, viruses, away from my family, my community, and myself. And I give myself a job. I thought that that already is an accomplishment. Now I can say that I am now an accomplished manager. I can actualize myself, and I can actualize my time. Okay, here now, with my composting project and diary, to share (modesty aside).

My Journal. (April 8, 2019)

It is April 8, Monday, or 16 days since I started composting my kitchen waste. And, as my title suggests, the waste is unlimited, from fruit peels to vegetables, to leftovers on the dining table. At first, I have reservations about composting in a very limited space like our house. It is a 90-square meter house where around 80 square meters is used as inside of the house or the floor area and so you can imagine how I will make do with around 8 square meter yard with my composting these kitchen trash where portions occupy my herbs and tropical plant pots plus the motorcycle of my youngest son. I am excited about growing the herbs that my sister bought for me because they are all healing herbs and they all repel mosquitoes which are basically a problem in our area because the spaces are congested as the houses are too close to each other and population keep growing. I ‘ve been disturbed too with the news that our landfills are likewise becoming congested and running out and that we have to sort out our garbage as a result, but I know that it is also to our own advantage. And I am disturbed by the fact that one of the problems of our planet today is global warming,  that there’s too much surface heat due to too much carbon dioxide and other toxic gases  in the atmosphere.  That these gases are trapped in the atmosphere due to the destruction of the ozone layer. There’s too much heat in short. Can composting help? Yes. With composting I can reduce fossil fuels because this is unlimited which means all waste are collected. However, I’ve been also thinking of the insects that the compost might invite and yet with all these reservations I decided to push through with this small project.  To give you an idea of the small space where I’m trying my composting, here:

                                                   [photo above]

                                             My bougainvillea pots. Pink and lilac.

From Day 1 that I started, the dump truck passed once and since is almost 3 weeks; there is no dump truck on sight. Okay, since Day 1, I now have 1 big pail 1smaller pail and 1 big plastic pot. When my son was trying to put holes on the sides of the big pail, he almost wrecked the whole pail, so I had to tie a wire around it. Well, the pail is still useful, and I also remedied by transferring the pile of garbage ( a little yuck) in a sack before putting them back in the pail. Voila. Everything neat now. The smaller plastic pail, I just cracked little by little with a small knife. That did the trick.  Take a close look at the small pails. They are neat, aren’t they?  No flying insects around. After putting the waste, I add soil on top for cover. You can look at my initial compost. I was told by somebody I bought the garden soil from that there is no need for a compost breaker and that the garden soil is enough. [photo below]

April 16, 2019

So, this is Day 24 from when I started composting. I now have 2 big pails, 1smaller pail, and 2 plastic pots-  the two pots are made of plastic and one, terracotta with the last pot (the terracotta pot) almost filled to the brim and so this is my problem. I will be needing another pot. I feel that it is also good to use terracotta especially if you are really into gardening because there is no need anymore to transfer, but I am thinking, I keep buying pots, so I feel I need to economize. My idea is to use sack instead so in my next compost, I will use the nylon sackcloth which is sturdy and is easier to tie. As to my soil stock, I still have 3 ½ sacks left. The exciting part is I have already doubled the amount of the soil that I bought outside. By the time everything is ready as a garden soil, I will have no more problem looking for soil when I have to propagate my herbs especially (I am particularly excited with herbs because of its healing benefits), as I used to, although right now, I have not opened any of the compost. They are neat. There are no ants now. Yesterday, there were, but as soon as you expose them under the sun, the ants go away. Summer is best for composting. All the pails and pots are covered. So, what is the procedure? It is simple. Put the trash, then cover the trash with soil on top. Again, there is no need for a compost breaker. I cannot report yet about the quality of the soil. I have not opened them, and I have no intention of opening them yet. I want them to dry under the strong sun. Even El Nino can be an advantage (a friend) particularly for this kind of activity. The strong sun I am hypothesizing will dry the trash under the soil faster and maybe even If I don’t put burned paper trash which I try to avoid because I heard there is an ordinance. I burn a little just so I will have CO2 to put in them. Occasionally, I water the soil. Okay, so that’s the latest for My Composting Diary. I hope this activity will be a success because it won’t benefit me alone. I am sure I can share the experience with a community who has had troubles in the past when government dump trucks don’t come, and smelly trash (with flying insects around like swath of flies) piles up outside of houses. BTW, there aren’t smells with the compost since they’re covered with soil.     Thanks for the Indian woman I saw on FB from whom this activity has been inspired. [photos]

Aprl 25, 2019 (Thursday)

Okay, it is exactly 35 days now from March 22 when we started composting from 1 pot. Now I have 2 big pails, 1 huge pot, 2 small pots, and I have added 4 small sacks. I’ve  learned a lesson. Always, always, before the end of the day, cover your compost so as not to attract, insects, pests such as roaches and mouse because the other day, I saw a small mouse inside my house. That was the first time that I’ve seen a mouse after a long time.  I had 4 cats before. Now, it’s only one. And with the compost activity,  I realized that I have to make sure that I am clean, meaning, at the end of the day, after exposing them under the sunlight,  I have to make sure that they are covered, and the sacks, tied. Otherwise, you would not want to see flies hovering not only around the pails, pots, and sacks, but around the house.  There was a fly while we were eating this lunchtime and I am blaming myself for that. So, number 1 reminder when composting, be very clean. Use gloves. Cover the pails, pots, and sacks because being clean means being free from diseases.  Without further ado, here are my latest photos:

  

                                    I’ve decided to compost on sacks as it’s a lot cheaper.

                          

                                    The other batch exposed under the sun.

                                         

                                       I ‘ve fnally covered and tied everything.

1 May 2019

The sun is scorchingly hot. There are a handful of small mosquitoes swirling around the compost when I opened the sacks and pots and pails.  Suspected that it was coming from the newest sack.  Now I have 5 sacks, 3 big pails and 2 medium sized pots. What I did was add more soil to really cover the dirt under the newest sack. I have again inspected the compost after a while and it’s now mosquitoe-free after a little exposure under the sun. The entire house s also fly-free. My cat, and the other stray cats will be responsible for the mice (if there will be any). My son told me that our cat (we named “Tiger”) has just caught a mouse. That’s maybe the one I saw one day. Everything clean so far. Maintenance is the key. And yes because of the burning heat. You can even toast a bread under such temperature. I  opened the faucet beside the compost and water is too hot.  I wonder what the heat index is. As I mentioned earlier,  global warming is at the moment friendly to composting activities as this one. The accomplishment that it brings is if this succeeds (38 days now),  I have doubled the 5 sacks of garden soil that I bought outside.  Plan to stop in the meantime because  I have no more garden soil plus I want to really really see a result from this new experiment so I  want to make observations and record these observations in this diary. Problem is: Can a small space accommodate home-composting that is hygienic, pest-free, so that it is environmentally-clean, and is sustainable in the long term? Right now, the compost is smell-free.  Am really thankful to the sun. It’s like water that cleanses and kills bacteria so that there are not any smell coming from the compost. The key is to cover with a lot of soil . This is a non-limited compost. The end product I expect would be a garden soil.

23 May 2019

Today is sunny so you can imagine how beautiful the day is. It’s a perfect day. In actuality, the rainy season has come early. Everyday this May it rains and so I cannot inspect my composts.  I have now 4 sacks, 1 big pail, 2 smaller pails, and 2 pots. It is exactly 60 days from March 23, 2019 and I have doubled the amount of soil  I bought for this activity.

1) Is there a smell around the pots created by the composting activity?    No smelly odors around.

2) Are there flies around?   None.

3) Are there mosquitoes?    None.

4) Are there roaches?         None.

5) Are there worms?           Under 1 sack, yes, but the worms are almost dried up.

There is in fact 1 pot where a sapling has grown.

 I have not moved any one of them nor looked inside whether the composts have broken down. On the surface, they looked neat. I do not intend to move them yet because as I said everyday it rains, and right now (2:51p.m.), it looks like it’s going to rain later.

What have I learned from this composting activity?

I have to be clean.  I have always tied or covered my composts. BTW, I used the stray cats for balance of nature.  I attracted them by giving them leftovers.  Even allowed them once in a while to get inside the house. I don’t see mice anymore. I  saw two dead. I used the chalk laced with chemical inside the house to get rid of roaches. Better than bay leaf in sturdiness. The surroundings should be clean. No trash that may invite harmful insects.  One thing left to check is whether the kitchen waste have broken down although inside 1 sack, I still saw egg shells. The potted composts look clean and neat with C02 on top of the soil. Oh yes I burn my tissue paper waste to use for the compost.

And, ‘ tried to transfer 2 little spearmint plants into one of the new pots (compost). See what happens in the future.

Mom-she’s. Don’t forget to wash hands.

Use gloves.

1 June 2019

Look at my end-products. I have now 4 compost-pots where I have planted 1) spearmint 2) pepper 3) oregano 4) parsley. Won’t go around the bush. Here are photos. No smell. No insects.

                                          

     

                                    Spearmint in compost-terracotta pot

                                         Oregano in plastic pot

What have I discovered? It’s easier to do composting directly in a pot—whether terracotta or plastic because there is no need for transferring or moving anything. Right after you cover your waste with soil, the waste breaks down in time with the help of soil on top.  I have more remaining garden soil for future projects. Best is around 90 to 120 days. [photo below]. There are no smells, no insects. The components have broken down except for the mango and avocado seed. So it takes more time for big seeds to break down although their colors have already changed into like-carbon or charcoal. 

                                     A ninety-day soil compost in a plastic pot 

                                     where sprinkled are red pepper seeds.

7 June 2019 

The other day, 5 June, 2019, I have started composting in a bigger sack. Let us see if what worked with smaller pots, pails and sacks will work with a bigger sack. My sack is almost filled today with my kitchen waste. There was waste that I was unable to join with the composted waste because they are two days old. I didn't see them in the kitchen right away that is why. Why did I not let them join the new batch? it is important that right after you throw the kitchen waste, it goes right away to the compost pot and you put right away soil on top. That is to prevent insects like worms or stench, from growing although worm is a compost breaker too. Everything works for the good. To let you take a look at my new sack [here, below] but since the rainy season has already set in, I will let the aging process work to its advantage there are sunlight still and strong sunlight due to global warming. And as mentioned earlier, the warming works to my advantage in a way.

                                             The newest sack. Will let it age for about

                                             90 to 120 days. Expose under the sunlight

                                             everyday for a minimum of four hours.

25 June 2019

My plants have grown

So it has been 25 days since we made our last sack (above photo) of compost. The sack is almost filled and the waste that i put has become unlimited. this means accommodating even the wet-ty kitch en waste because sometimes i  can be too busy that sorting out can be confusing. There is a little smell when you open the sack and it s also partly because these days (June) is now the onset of the rainy season. We only have two in the Philippines, summer and rainy.  June is not actually the onset of rainy season, but maybe because of global warming, rains are coming early than expected. i also no longer open the sacks and pots under the sun. The sun is rare nowadays, and if there is sunshine, it's good for a short time. Now i am on to my next sack. The good news is, my plants have grown from some pots where we did composting.  Take a look at the pictures below.

   Look at the difference from the previous photos above; 

the spearmint growing on a composted soil.

Aloevera

                    

                                    Finally, i have a local parsley (kintsay).

                                    God's most powerful plant and antibiotic is easy to grow. 

28 June 2019

Next goal: zero carbon emission

Heard Bill Gates saw Greta Thunberg and a UK group calling that 'time is now' for some climate action from governments. There is a need for a zero carbon emission because CO2 is one of the highest pollutants trapping greenhouse gases and thus making the earth hotter. That will be my next goal, and it means no more burning of paper waste for compost fertilizer. We'll see what we can achieve from this decision. Right now, my total waste at home has been reduced by half because of this composting thing. That, already, is an accomplishment. It is, indeed, already rainy season although today is hot despite announcement that there is an LPA. More likely thunderstorms in the afternoon. It usually thunders in the p.m. followed by lightning and then rain shower. 

17 July 2019

Am guilty. Of sloth. Cold today and like in the past few days, it is good to laze in bed. It has been raining since last night, but moderate, just enough to cool a little the warming earth. Rain just stopped, and it's warm again. So, we really have to do something about global warming. But as I said, I’m guilty because as I saw flies and worms (and the smell) around my compost, I was unable to control myself from lighting up fires. I had no choice I thought because it was always raining. Then the charcoal-ed papers or the ashes (from burning tissue papers and papers and cartons),  I put  in the sack . it reduces the smell and eliminates the insects that are swarming around the compost. it is also good  that I got kitties that can guard me from mice and rats. One day, my youngest son gave me a chemical used to draw away ants. it was faster to use than bay leaves. Bay leaves don't last. Good they don't lurk in corners anymore. Conclusion: Harder to do compost on a rainy season, but it sure is a  good exercise as it reduces by almost-half the amount of garbage that you turn over to the dump truck. I  will have to take advantage of a sunny day, expose the compost under the sun as I’ve proven that it is another way of eliminating insects and stench that may come out of it.