Saturday, June 18, 2011

Simple Living Institute Composting class at the Econ Farm

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Tia Meer is the Simple Living Institute’s organization president. Tia and her husband on an environmentally friendly home located on the Econlockhatchee River, between UCF and Christmas. It is known as the Econ Farm, but without the barn animals you would normally imagine seeing. They do grow a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs though and own their own business called Homegrown Delights.

Simple Living Institute website: http://www.simplelivinginstitute.org 

screen

This is the screen that serves as a filter to remove larger debris from the pile.

brown layer

The first two layers are the brown and green layers. This is composed of dead leaves such as palm leaves or even straw. The green layer is more like lettuce greens.

food layer

The middle layer is known as the orange layer where fruit is dumped. The middle is best to keep animals from discovering it.

adding dirt layer

The soil layer contains many microorganisms that help hold moisture.

palm leaves

On top goes another brown layer.

another layer of food

Another fruit layer.

layer of dirt

Layer of dirt.

adding water

Water helps aid the pile by speeding up the decomposition process.

pile

Wood ashes, oyster shells, or chicken poop can be added to the pile to act as a catalyst in speeding up the composting process.

Elizabeth’s Eco Tips: When it comes to making containers for seed starting, juice or milk containers can be a treasure worth keeping. First, cut off a panel in the front of the carton. Then in the bottom, either use a knife to poke drainage holes or unscrew the lid so you can begin filling the container with dirt and plant.

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