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

BB gardening - sand badge
posted 1 year 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.  Mother Earth News story about Ruth's methods

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 that are smaller as long as they add up to 10 gallons

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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posted 1 year 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
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Location: Live Oak, Fl (zone 8b)
posted 1 year 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 1 year 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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posted 1 year ago
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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,black,deep clay/loam with few rocks, wonderful creek bottom!
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posted 1 year 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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Mike Haasl
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posted 1 year ago
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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.

"Hundreds of years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in or the type of car I drove... But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that it becomes a tourist destination"

 
Kenneth Elwell
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posted 1 year ago
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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.

 
paul wheaton
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posted 1 year ago
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Take the pics so it adds up to 10 gallons.  Definitely don't keep week old compost in your house - that's nasty!

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Nicole Alderman
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posted 1 year ago
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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!

 
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