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Ruth Stout style composting (2 spots) - PEP BB gardening.sand.RuthStout

BB gardening - sand badge
posted 6 years ago
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This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the PEP curriculum.  Completing this BB is part of getting the sand badge in Gardening.

Ruth Stout heavily mulched her gardens.  Instead of putting scraps in a compost pile, tuck them in/under/on your mulch to directly feed the soil.  
Info about Ruth Stout.

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
  - Start with two areas that have already been mulched (or mulch two places)
  - Collect two 5 gallon buckets of kitchen scraps
  - open a spot in the mulch for the kitchen scraps
  - plop one bucket of kitchen scraps in a spot so that the material will not touch desirable plants
  - cover the kitchen scraps with existing mulch or new mulch
  - repeat in another spot for second bucket

To document your completion of the BB, provide the following:
  - a photo of the bucket of kitchen scraps next to the opened mulch
  - a photo of the empty bucket and the new mound of mulch
  - repeat for second bucket
  - describe the volume of your bucket(s) and how full they were

Clarifications:
  - if you collect food scraps in smaller quantities it's fine to do more buckets and correspondingly more spots that are smaller as long as they add up to 10 gallons

Wheaton Labs Boot Camp Participant does Ruth Stout Composting


bucket-of-kitchen-scraps.png
[Thumbnail for bucket-of-kitchen-scraps.png]
the kitchen scraps about to go into the hole
digging-for-a-spot.png
[Thumbnail for digging-for-a-spot.png]
opening up the existing mulch a bit
about-to-dump.png
[Thumbnail for about-to-dump.png]
introducing the kitchen scraps to the new hole in the mulch
kitchen-scraps-in-hole.png
[Thumbnail for kitchen-scraps-in-hole.png]
the kitchen scraps are in their new home
first-mulch.png
[Thumbnail for first-mulch.png]
cover with exisiting mulch
more-mulch.png
[Thumbnail for more-mulch.png]
add a bit more new mulch
COMMENTS:
 
wayne fajkus
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Location: Central Texas zone 8a
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posted 6 years ago
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10 gallons of kitchen scraps  is a lot to accumulate at 1 time (couple, no kids) without it souring.  Any considerations to lower that?  I would have to freeze it.

Sometimes the answer is nothing

 
Joshua Comer
Posts: 4
Location: Live Oak, Fl (zone 8b)
posted 6 years ago
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I leave mine in a bucket with holes outside to accumulate. In the summer black soldier flies break it down before I can fill it.

39 acres of mixed woodland and pasture.

 
Nicole Alderman
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posted 6 years ago
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I've been taking pictures as I add mine to my garden in smaller batches. When I think I've done about 10 gallons, I'll post all the pictures. I'm hoping that will qualify!

Basically, I take a picture of the full containers next to the hole I made in the mulch, then the food in the hole, and then the covered hole.
collection-of-kitchen-scraps.jpg
collection of kitchen scraps
collection of kitchen scraps
first-batch-of-kitchen-scraps.jpg
first batch of kitchen scraps
first batch of kitchen scraps
dumped-kitchen-scraps.jpg
dumped kitchen scraps
dumped kitchen scraps
dishes-emptied.jpg
dishes emptied
dishes emptied
second-batch-of-kitchen-scraps.jpg
second batch of kitchen scraps
second batch of kitchen scraps
mulching-the-soil.jpg
mulching the soil
mulching the soil
all-covered-over.jpg
all covered over
all covered over
3rd-set-of-kitchen-scraps.jpg
3rd set of kitchen scraps
3rd set of kitchen scraps
buried-in-the-mulch.jpg
buried in the mulch
buried in the mulch
covered-with-mulch.jpg
covered with mulch
covered with mulch

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Staff note (paul wheaton) :

that looks like about 3.5 gallons so far.  Keep going!

 
wayne fajkus
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I hope so  nicole. I am good for 2 gallons at a time. Reading the instructions, it wants 10 gallons as a starting point, not 10 gallons over a period of time. In a community like Wheaton labs, the qty is probably easy. The instruction qty may be intentional or a mistake. Just pointing it out in case it was a mistake. Filling the balance with grass cuttings does not constitute "kitchen scraps" which could have been a loophole.

I started a bed of morel mushrooms and instructions say to bury kitchen scraps in the bed to feed them. They grow in soil  vs logs or mulch like other mushrooms. Someone can get an added benefit with this method. And the worms, they love this. Good stuff.

Sometimes the answer is nothing

 
Judith Browning
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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain
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posted 6 years ago
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 Reading the instructions, it wants 10 gallons as a starting point, not 10 gallons over a period of time. In a community like Wheaton labs, the qty is probably easy. The instruction qty may be intentional or a mistake.



In the first image of the post with the instructions, the bucket looks like a two gallon one and not clear full so maybe the '10 gallon' amount is an error as mentioned?

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