So, I had just given a never used composter away to my neighbor. For those of you following me, I am in the midst of Hippocrates Health Institutes Life Transformation learning program. This means I went out a few weeks later and purchased a new composter after learning how I really needed one. I am growing an organic garden and while I have a good organic fertilizer I did not realize I needed to apply it bi weekly. Yep and while I had heard of compost tea, I did not realize how badly I needed that either. Apparently plants really take in a ton of nutrients from their leaves when sprayed with compost tea.
But I am lazy or you could say busy if you are being kind. I did not want something that was hand crank, as that could get heavy and cumbersome and perhaps hard on my hands. And regarding making the tea, while I learned in class how to take some compost material out, place the compost in a mesh cloth, tile with twine and suspend it in a 5 gallon bucket of water for 2 weeks, then remove the mesh cloth, fill a misting bottle and spray upon the leaves with abandon, that sounded like steps to me. Gee, I wondered, why can’t both be combined somehow into a composter where I wouldn’t (or you either) need to jack with all that?
After much research, I am now the proud owner of the Envirocycle Most Beautiful Composter in the World. Well, it is darn cute, even in the larger size which I opted for. It comes in 17 or 34 gallons. Other than the size, they are identical. Many folks buy 2, one can be ‘cooking’ while you are using the other that’s ready. For now, I have just the one. AND, and this I am truly madly deeply excited about, it makes compost tea!!!! You use little plugs, save your tea inside the base. You just unscrew a little lid in the base that creates and stores your tea. It’s concentrated, so you add water to it in a spray bottle and spray upon the leaves with abandon. Yayee! What is NOT to love here?
Even if you are, like me, just starting out with your home organic gardening, it is really important to impart your produce with the most nutrients possible. Hippocrates also recommends augmenting your soil with minerals too. This can be stone dust or go purchase minerals. I have very rocky soil and wonder if that counts. For now, I am hooked on composting. The company has amazing customer care, the product is a joy to use and because it rolls right off its base to wherever you want to lay down some compost, it is easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Oh, and I did title this post Vegetative Composting, and the reason why is that I want you to avoid meat products. This will cut down on bugs and flies but also, it is important to note that most compost is animal byproduct. Not only this, but most come from factory farming, which means pesticides and loads of antibiotics. This crap doesn’t break down so when you use this stuff, you eat it when you harvest. Ick. Let’s avoid all that unpleasantness and just do 75% green (all your veggie scraps, wheat-grass root bed, lawn clippings) and 25% brown (leaves, cardboard)
Compost happy!
Come and listen to a story about a gal named Suz
She wanted to go organic but didn’t want the blues
Then one day she found the most beautiful composter in the world
And oh the Envirocycle made her a happy girl!
Bubbling crude, there was! Black gold, Texas ‘compost’ tea. (Seeing if y’all are reading me.)