Effortless Composting: Tips for the Busy (and Lazy) Parent

Effortless Composting: Tips for the Busy (and Lazy) Parent

by | May 30, 2024 | At Home, Community

by Priyanka Rajan, WSP Parent

Have you ever wondered what happens to your kitchen scraps? Instead of ending up in a landfill, they could be transformed into rich, nourishing soil. This magical process is called composting, and it’s easier than you think!

Composting is crucial for reducing waste and enriching our soil. As parents of young children, we’ve found it’s also a fantastic way to teach them about the circle of life and our role in it. Every bit of organic waste we compost helps reduce our carbon footprint and supports a healthier planet for our kids. However, traditional composting methods can be messy and time-consuming. Regularly washing out bins with a hose and drying them in the sun can be a hassle, especially with a busy schedule and young children.

We used to follow the standard composting method with the city-provided countertop bin. While effective, it became challenging to maintain, especially with a newborn and sleepless nights. That’s when we discovered a simpler, more convenient way, using grocery store paper bags. By placing peels and compostable items in double-lined brown bags on a tray and sealing them with a rock, we found an effortless solution. Every 2-3 days, we simply toss the whole bag into the green bin. This method has been a game-changer, making composting hassle-free and manageable, even with an infant in tow. No more messy bins to wash and dry – just simple, effective composting.

Imagine this in your own home. Picture your kitchen with a neat, double-lined brown bag ready to catch all your peels and scraps. Visualize how easy it is to toss the scraps from your cutting board into the wide opening of the bag. Every few days, instead of dealing with a messy bin, you simply place the whole bag into your green bin. No extra cleaning, no hassle – just a simple, effective composting routine.
We invite you to try this method and see the difference it can make in your daily routine. Not only will you be reducing waste, but you’ll also be contributing to a healthier environment for your family. Let’s make composting a part of our lives, even amidst our busy schedules and parenting duties. Please give it a try and let us know how it works for you. Together, we can make a wonderful impact!

 

Priyanka has been connected to the Waldorf School of the Peninsula in various roles for about four years now—first and foremost as a parent, then as a teacher, and now as a student in Teacher Jane and Teacher Denise’s Warm Beginnings Program. She is very grateful to be part of this wonderful community, which has provided her with the opportunity for lifelong learning, especially in navigating parenthood.

The Garden Gate: Acorns, Frosts, and Composts

The Garden Gate: Acorns, Frosts, and Composts

by | Nov 21, 2022 | Curriculum, High School, Middle School

by by Phil Dwyer | Earth Arts Teacher

Many crows gather early every morning under a large oak where I live. They take advantage of the cars squishing the acorns that fall in the residential parking lot and driveway. A number of gray and black squirrels busily scurry around the trees’ bounty, too. Similar acorn enthused activity is taking place on our Mountain View campus among its oak trees in the middle school courtyard. Deciduous trees are shedding their leaves. Plants are generally withdrawing from their outward spring and summer growth, as if retreating back into the Earth. We’ve had our first frosts in the garden, which seem to herald that the formative, crystalline forces will rule for the months to come, rather than the curvy biomorphic forms of the dynamic growth forces of the warmer months.

Many biodynamic (BD) farmers capitalize on the shift of energies into the earth during this time of year. Compost yards fill up with new piles of biomass to ferment and transform over the winter. The digesting activity of blooms of countless microorganisms (trillions per “handful” of now steaming biomass) heat up the compost heaps.

Pictured above is a recently created “fresh” compost pile of several cubic yards of biomass (approximately 10’x5’x5’), which will probably yield a couple of yards of finished compost.

As if to confirm the legitimacy of the compost thermometer, many students often thrust their hands into the compost heap to feel it for themselves. (We always wash our hands after every gardening class.) They can attest that things are heating up even though the days are getting cooler. In the Spring, wheelbarrows of transformed compost humus will return to the school’s garden beds to enliven our clay soils and join with the plants in their dance of photosynthesizing the sun.

Many BD farms craft a specialized compost made from cow manure. Students are pictured here taking turns “stirring” fresh manure and mixing it with pulverized egg shells, rock mineral dusts, and diatomaceous earth. It all got buried in a brick-lined pit where the five BD compost preparations—made from chamomile, yarrow, dandelion, nettle, oak bark, and valerian—were added. When this all eventually turns to humus it will become a unique compost concentrate, which will be an incredible catalytic aid for the formative and growth forces of the living realm of our campus. We eagerly look forward to putting it to good use!