I still remember sitting in my environmental science lectures. Learning about soil health and regenerative farming, when I had a realisation. Soil wasn’t just “dirt” anymore, it was alive. Recently, while reading Kiss the Ground by Josh Tickell, that understanding deepened even further. It got me thinking. We aren’t all regenerative farmers, but how could we take their knowledge and, especially as busy women. To start composting at home and use it to create healthier soils to nourish our family and environment? For me, it started with compost.
Why Composting Matters for Soil, Health, and the Environment
What is Compost?
Think of composting as nature’s recycling system. It mimics the natural nutrient cycles found in places like a tropical rainforest. Where nothing goes to waste. When we mix food scraps, grass clippings, and pruning, we aren’t just creating a pile. We are creating the start of a healthy ecosystem.
The Magic in a Teaspoon
Soil, in my opinion, is one of the most vital ecosystems on the planet. As it supports nearly every form of life. But it isn’t just dirt. It is a living, breathing supra-organism (aka superorganism). Just one teaspoon of healthy topsoil contains around 1 billion individual microbes and 10,000 different species.
The Earth’s Probiotic
Just like the microorganisms in your gut keep you healthy, these soil microbes help keep entire ecosystems above them healthy. From tropical rainforest, to grasslands, rivers and the ocean. The soil plays a vital role in keeping each of us healthy. The soil does this by cycling nutrients like carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. They also help detoxify pollutants and filter our water.
Bringing Your Garden Back to Life
If your soil at home feels tired or degraded, home composting is the answer. By starting to compost at home, you can bring your garden back to life. By encourage worms, fungi and other critters into the soil. This will help nourish your family and the environment.
Why Composting Is Good for Plants and the Environment
Reducing Food Waste and Methane Emissions
When our food waste goes into a bin and ends up in a landfill, it doesn’t just disappear. It rots without air, which creates Methane (CH4). This greenhouse gas is 28 to 80 times more potent at trapping heat than CO2. By composting at home, you’re reducing the amount of methane gas being produced significantly.
Compost as a Natural Fertiliser for Home Gardens
Think of compost as a slow-release, chemical-free multivitamin for your plants. Instead of a “quick fix” from a bottle, you are giving the soil exactly what it needs to feed itself.
- Nutrient Boost: Compost gives organic matter back to the earth, so your plants grow stronger. This results in healthier, happier crops and more nutrients for your family’s dinner plate.
- Building New Soil: We are losing topsoil at alarming rates right now. With statistics showing 95% of Earth’s soils are on track to become degraded by 2050. But we have a chance to stop that and even reverse it, from your own home. Because when you add compost to the soil, you are literally helping create healthy topsoil. Which holds onto moisture and doesn’t erode as easily.
- Diverting Waste: We could compost around 45% of what we put in our trash bins. If we work together. We can divert thousands of tonnes of waste from landfills every year while creating beautiful, rich soil.
How Compost Helps Rebuild Topsoil
Healthy topsoil is the base of nearly every ecosystem on the planet. It gives life to everything from the cows in the field to the wild animals in the bush. Soil is the most crucial thing we need to get right if we want to nourish the planet and our kids.
Why Composting Is Good for Women’s and Family Health
The Link Between Soil Microbes and Gut Health
Scientists have shown there is a direct link between the soil microbiome and your own gut microbiome. Interestingly, soil and the human gut have around the same amount of microorganisms, but soil is 10 times more diverse.
Humans have always been in contact with the soil, which is what previously kept our immune systems strong. But because of our modern lifestyles, we have lost most of that contact by being too clean. This has resulted in our decline in gut microbiome diversity. By interacting with healthy soils when you garden, you can replenish your body with these good microorganisms. When you have a healthy gut, you have better overall health and well-being. Which assists with better digestion, metabolism, and immunity. To learn more about the link between soil and human health. Have a look at my blog post on regenerative farming.
Growing More Nutrient-Dense Food at Home
Because compost creates “happier” plants, they can take up more nutrients from the earth. This is a game-changer for your health and your family’s health. Because it gives you nutrient-dense food packed with the minerals we often lack. Studies show that food grown in healthy soil has higher levels of essential vitamins and nutrients. While also having higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, compared to unhealthy, depleted soil.
How to Compost at Home: The 4 Essentials
To start composting at home and break down your food and garden wastes efficiently. We need to care for the microbes that make home composting possible. Because microbes are living organisms and they need to be happy. To help us go from a pile of food scraps, leaves and twigs to a rich compost heap.
Greens and Browns: The Right Compost Ingredients
Using the right mix of greens and browns is key for home composting success.
Greens- These are nitrogen-rich, which gives proteins for the microbes to grow. These are fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, grains and starches, eggshells, horse manure and fresh grass clippings.
Browns- These are carbon-rich, which gives the energy for the microbes. These are dry leaves, shredded cardboard, tree pruning, and straw. Keep a bag of dried leaves next to the compost heap to add when you add food scraps. So, you don’t run out of browns.
The Ratio- The ratio should be around 3:1. Which is easier to remember as 3 buckets of browns to every 1 bucket of greens.
What Not to Compost!
Knowing what to avoid will make your home composting at home safer and more effective.
Animal Meat, Oil, Whole eggs and Dairy- This attracts rodents, has bad bacteria, and decomposes slowly.
Pet Waste – Can introduce harmful bacteria and toxins
Toxins and Chemicals- Insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, treated wood and ash. This adds these chemicals to your soil and can be taken up by plants and into your food.
Plants with diseases or pests- These can survive to reinfect the compost and your garden.
Compostable Plastics- They may still contain microplastics, which can contaminate the soil. You can learn more about microplastics and human health affects in this blog post.
Limit Citrus and Onion- They are acidic and can change the pH. Which the microbes don’t like
Air and Moisture: Keeping Compost Healthy
Oxygen (Aeration)
Turn your compost pile once or twice a week with a garden fork. Which keeps the pile in an aerobic state (with oxygen). Which prevents the compost pile from going anaerobic (without air), as this can produce terrible smells. So, if you start smelling rotten eggs, turn your pile over.
Moisture
Try the snowball method: bunch the compost into a snowball shape. If it crumbles its too dry. Or if you can squeeze lots of water out its too wet. But, if it stays in good shape and you can squeeze a drop or two of water out its perfect.
The amount of moisture may change during different seasons. So, you may have to water your compost or put a tarp over it to keep it dry.
Compost Temperature: Why Heat Matters
Heat is a byproduct of microbial activity. Which is a good sign that the composting process is working.
The Sweet Spot: A good pile of compost will reach temperatures between 55 and 72 degrees Celsius.
These high temperatures kill weed seeds and harmful pathogens in the compost. After this heating phase, the pile will cool down and mature. You may consider buying a composting thermometer so you can keep track of the temperature over time.
How to Start Composting at Home (3 Simple Steps)
Step 1: Easy Kitchen Compost Collection
The secret to making composting a habit is to make it easy. Find a cute compost bin for your countertop so it’s right where you need it.
- The Charcoal Filter: Make sure your bin has a charcoal filter in the lid. This is a game-changer for reducing smells, especially in hot climates.
- Make it Easy: Having a collection bin nearby makes it so much easier to toss in scraps while you’re cooking. Plus, these small bins are much easier to handle and empty regularly than a big, heavy bucket.
Step 2: Choosing the Best System for Composting at Home
There are many ways to compost, depending on how much space you have:
1. Bokashi Composting for Apartments
If you have zero outdoor space, a Bokashi Bin will be your best friend. Unlike traditional composting, this is a fermentation process.
- How it works: You put your food scraps into a specialised airtight bucket and sprinkle them with “Bokashi Bran” (microbes). Then you press the air out and let it ferment.
- The Pros: It is completely odourless and sits right under your kitchen sink. It can even handle meat and dairy, which other systems can’t.
- The Result: After two weeks, you get a nutrient-rich “tea” to feed houseplants. Plus a fermented “pickle” that you can bury in a pot or donate to a community garden.
2. Compost Tumblers for Small Gardens
For those with a little patio or yard space who want things to stay tidy. A Compost Tumbler is a popular choice for composting at home.
- How it works: This is a sealed plastic barrel mounted on a stand. You simply toss your “Greens” and “Browns” inside and spin the handle every few days.
- The Pros: The spinning action provides perfect aeration (the “Oxygen” pillar), which speeds up the process and prevents smells. Because it’s off the ground and sealed, it is virtually “pest-proof.”
- The Result: You can get finished “Black Gold” in as little as 4–8 weeks during the summer.
3. Open Compost Bins for Large Backyards
If you have plenty of space and yard waste (like grass clippings and fallen leaves). A traditional open bin is perfect for you.
- How it works: You can build a simple bin out of wooden pallets. There are some cool design ideas on Pinterest, which I’ve been eyeing up for this! Once you have made your bin, you can then layer your ingredients in. Manually turning them with a garden fork once a week.
- The Pros: This method can handle lots of organic matter. It’s also the best way to reach those high temperatures (55°C–72°C) needed to kill weed seeds and pathogens.
- The Result: This creates the largest amount of compost. Which is perfect for large vegetable patches or fruit orchards.
Safety Disclaimer!!!
Please make sure you wear gloves and a face mask when composting at home. This is a simple but important step to prevent you from getting Legionellosis (Legionnaires’ disease). Which can occasionally be found in organic matter like compost and potting mix.
Step 3: How to Use Finished Compost in Your Garden
After 6-8 months, you will have rich compost which looks like a dark chocolate cake. You can now add it to your vegetable garden. Under your fruit trees and as a top-dressing for your indoor plants.
The result is black gold for your garden. Plants thrive with compost. Which means you can have nutrient-rich, bumper crops. From juicy raspberries to crisp cucumbers, which you can harvest and enjoy with your family.
Small Steps, Big Impact: Your Composting Journey
Composting doesn’t need to be perfect or time-consuming. It starts with care and a willingness to try. When you compost at home, you turn everyday food scraps into healthier soil. Resulting in stronger plants, and more nourishing food for your family. You reduce household waste, support wildlife, and help restore the earth beneath our feet. Healthy soil is the foundation of healthy ecosystems and healthy people. Whether you live in an apartment or a backyard garden, composting is an easy step you can start today. So, let me know in the comments. What’s the first composting step you’re going to try?
Thank you for Reading!!
I hope you have a lovely rest of your day
Georgia xoxo
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