Search...
Home Subscribe
Pie
Home Subscribe
Recent topics Flagged topics Hot topics Best topics
Search...
Search within pep-gardening Search permies
Advance search Google search
Register / Login
Online appropriate technology course video Free heat movie Better wood heat kitty blue permaculture playing cards SKIP fibre arts basket weaving picture with mini Paul
  • Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
Free heat movie IC.org Permaculture design course and appropriate technology course video DIY rocket mass heaters - instructional DVD set Living Woods Magazine Woodcarving free 1st issue
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • r ranson
  • Anne Miller
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • paul wheaton
  • Nicole Alderman
  • Liv Smith
master gardeners:
  • Carla Burke
  • John F Dean
  • Nancy Reading
  • Jay Angler
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • Jordan Holland
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Andrés Bernal

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

BB gardening - sand badge
posted 4 years ago
  • Likes 9
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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
gardener
Posts: 3073
Location: Central Texas zone 8a
816
2
I like...
cattle chicken bee sheep
posted 4 years ago
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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 4 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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
steward
Posts: 20790
Location: Pacific Northwest
11066
11
I like...
hugelkultur kids cat duck forest garden foraging fiber arts sheep wood heat homestead
posted 4 years ago
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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

~ Dragons, Fairies and even a Mini-Paul! ~ You Know You're a Permie When...~ All About Permies, including tutorials ~Herbal Hugel Spiral of Randomness!~Tricks to Keep the Dirt from Sliding off a Hugel~List of Cascadia Bloggers and Facebook Pages!~

Staff note (paul wheaton) :

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

 
wayne fajkus
gardener
Posts: 3073
Location: Central Texas zone 8a
816
2
I like...
cattle chicken bee sheep
posted 4 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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
Posts: 8436
Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain
2121
4
posted 4 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

 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?

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi

 
Mike Haasl
steward
Posts: 14753
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
4374
7
I like...
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
posted 4 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Paul's the official decider so we'll see what he says and if he adjusts the official requirements to be more specific.  My guess is that it would be fine to compost the materials as you get them and document as you go like Nicole is.

SKIP books, get 'em while they're hot!!! Skills to Inherit Property
Come join me at the 2024 SKIP event at Wheaton Labs

 
Kenneth Elwell
pollinator
Posts: 1110
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
467
6
I like...
urban books building solar rocket stoves ungarbage
posted 4 years ago
  • Likes 8
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I think this lives at the intersection of “Lazy” and and “Luxurious” where you:
DO manage your kitchen scraps in a timely manner, feed the soil/plants, and save time because you...
DON’T have to manage a compost pile/bin, or have scraps accumulated in the kitchen getting stinky, or haul and spread finished compost.

I think there’s some value in the smaller amounts, that in total make 10 gallons, creating habitual behaviors...

There’s also probably a scale ranging from the ineffectiveness of a single apple core to the overwhelming of one spot with more than five gallons of scraps at once.

Nails are sold by the pound, that makes sense.
Soluna Garden Farm -- Organic, hand-blended herb, spice, and tea blends -- Flower CSA -- Beverages, plants, and cut flowers at our Boston Public Market location, Boston, Massachusetts.

 
paul wheaton
author and steward
Posts: 47089
Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)
∞
I like...
hugelkultur trees chicken wofati bee woodworking
posted 4 years ago
  • Likes 9
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Take the pics so it adds up to 10 gallons.  Definitely don't keep week old compost in your house - that's nasty!

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

 
Nicole Alderman
steward
Posts: 20790
Location: Pacific Northwest
11066
11
I like...
hugelkultur kids cat duck forest garden foraging fiber arts sheep wood heat homestead
posted 4 years ago
  • Likes 11
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Approved submission
I'd continued documenting since this post....and then it snowed. So I started filling a 5 gallon bucket in our garage, to keep it cool. I figured the snow would melt and I'd be able to dig it in soon. BUT NO! The snow still hasn't melted, and my bucket was full and there was nowhere for the new compost to go! So I used a snow shovel to get down to the mulch, then dug the mulch out and put some of it in a pot. Then filled the hole with the 5 gallons of compost. Put the mulch on top of it, and then covered it with snow to help keep away winter-hungry creatures...and to make the garden bed a bit prettier.
kitchen-scraps-for-garden.jpg
kitchen scraps for garden
kitchen scraps for garden
buried-in-mulch.jpg
buried in mulch
buried in mulch
covered-with-mulch.jpg
covered with mulch
covered with mulch
kitchen-scraps-for-the-garden.jpg
kitchen scraps for the garden
kitchen scraps for the garden
buried-in-the-mulch.jpg
buried in the mulch
buried in the mulch
covered-with-the-mulch.jpg
covered with the mulch
covered with the mulch
kitchen-scraps-for-the-garden.jpg
kitchen scraps for the garden
kitchen scraps for the garden
buried-in-the-garden.jpg
buried in the garden
buried in the garden
covered-with-mulch.jpg
covered with mulch
covered with mulch
kitchen-scraps-in-the-garden.jpg
kitchen scraps in the garden
kitchen scraps in the garden
digging-hole-through-the-snow.jpg
digging hole through the snow
digging hole through the snow
covered-up-with-mulch-snow.jpg
covered up with mulch/snow
covered up with mulch/snow
covered-back-up-with-mulch.jpg
covered back up with mulch
covered back up with mulch
all-done-with-the-ruth-stout-style-for-this-bb.jpg
all done with the ruth stout style for this bb
all done with the ruth stout style for this bb

~ Dragons, Fairies and even a Mini-Paul! ~ You Know You're a Permie When...~ All About Permies, including tutorials ~Herbal Hugel Spiral of Randomness!~Tricks to Keep the Dirt from Sliding off a Hugel~List of Cascadia Bloggers and Facebook Pages!~

Staff note (paul wheaton) :

I certify that this BB is complete!

gift
 
Common Weeds And Wild Edibles Of The World (HD video)
will be released to subscribers in: soon!
click here for details
reply
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
Boost this thread!
Similar Threads
More...