What is Composting?

Composting is essentially decomposing. The leaves that collect in the corner of your yard decompose. If you facilitate the process, then it’s called composting. Composting involves mixing your yard and household organic waste, like food scraps, in a container and providing conditions that encourage or facilitate decomposition.

Why Compost?

Composting is a very environmentally friendly practice. It reduces the amount of garbage we toss into landfills by 20-30% and as we get closer and closer to running out of space, composting becomes more and more important.

In addition to making space in the landfills, composting provides you with a source of chemical free fertilizer, which you can use for gardening and soil conditioner.

Materials to Get Started

To begin composting you’ll need a few things to get started. You can find many of these items at your local hardware or gardening store. You can also buy home composting kits only. These kits come with everything you need and provide a relatively stink free composting experience.

You’ll need a compost bin. The materials will be decomposing here so if you’re keeping the compost in your home, you’ll want a lid as well.

You’ll also need a pitchfork to turn and mix the compost daily.

Finally, you’ll need to find the right place to put your compost. You can create a pile outside in a well-drained area or you can place it in a warm, dark location inside your home.

But what about the actual compost? Can you toss anything in there? Are there right and wrong ingredients? The answer is yes, the ideal compost recipe includes:

* 1 Part Greens – include grass clippings, kitchen scraps including eggshells and coffee grounds. (Avoid using any meat, fat, grease, oils, dairy products, bones, or animal droppings in your compost.)
* 25 Parts Browns – include dried leaves, straw, wood chips, paper bags and drier lint.
* Water – Keep the pile moist but not soaking
* Air
* And time

Turn the ingredients every day for about two weeks. In two weeks time you should have a powerful pile of compost to place in your garden, household plants or flowerbeds. Happy composting!

Feeding them is the number one way to increase their numbers in your garden. Here’s how to do it:

#1 – The best natural bird feeder is simply being as natural as possible in our food choices. Using natural twine, string up peanuts (in their shells) and hang from trees. You can also string up apples, rosehips, berries seed head and kitchen scraps.

Decorate your creations by tying fir cones to the bottom. For example you can attach a fir cone to the bottom of the string and place a few apples or fat balls on top. The fir cones will help the birds balance.

You can tie these edible bird feeders from old tree branches all around the garden – the more the merrier.

#2 – Construct your own feeder – This is far easier than it sounds. As long as the birds are fed you really don’t need anything fancy. An old piece of wood and something to attach it to will do – you can use the top of an old shed or a sturdy tree branch. Simply nail your platform in place and add nuts or seeds to attract the birds.

You can also use old twigs shaped and tied together to form a nest shape which you can then attach to the trees.

A pre-made bird house can be given a special touch with a little non-toxic paint and a few edible decorations such as hanging berries and peanuts.

# 3 – Don’t forget the water – Birds need hydration just like humans. If you don’t have an actual bird batch then simply add a few old pots of water throughout the garden. The birds will find their way to them and use the water to drink as well as cool down.

Making a natural bird feeder isn’t difficult. Simply use your imagination and remember the task at hand – keeping the birds fed and happy – it really doesn’t require a whole lot but you will get a lot of pleasure from enjoying these lovely creatures all year in the garden.