*This blog post was originally published on the Fox Hollow Substack page on 9/27/23.
September 23rd was the autumn equinox and the official, meteorological beginning of fall. Equal length of day and night on this day means that night comes sooner and sooner from now until midwinter. Seasonal shifts are transformational, urging us to notice changes small and large. The pumpkins have ripened, leaves are falling, and the air is crisp, if still a bit too warm, and I can feel things starting to slow down a bit.
I deeply enjoy devoting time to celebrate seasonal shifts, so I spent the afternoon of the equinox making a pot of chili, cornbread, and cleaning up the yard for a small get together with some family around a fire. I don’t know if my nieces and nephews will remember these small moments, but I remember moments like them from my childhood so fondly. Watching them prance around the yard chanting songs from Over the Garden Wall, wearing ghost and skeleton costumes in late September was priceless either way. Other autumnal activities I’ve been indulging in lately include made-from-scratch pumpkin spice pancakes on the weekends, walking around outside being bewildered by nature, and catching up on scary movies I’ve never seen (most of the classics… I was always too scared and didn’t care about the cultural significance for most of my young life).
Many get overwhelmed by the end-of-summer chaos in the garden. It manifests in overgrown weeds and wasting prolific harvests due to lack of time to prepare/preserve them. I struggle with this. Lots of grass has gone to seed in our garden beds despite making an honest effort to cut it before letting it get to that stage. The tall grass has provided stability for the tomatoes to grow up, though, so it is at least serving some purpose. We may have the same grass issue next year, but I’m just thankful that it isn’t bermuda grass. And anyway, our garden is still quite prolific considering it has produced for such a lengthy season. Right now we have plenty of Cherokee Purple and cherry tomatoes, kale and other greens, Daikon radishes, serrano and bell peppers, cabbage, marigolds, mint, basil, beans, okra, feverfew, cucumbers, and zinnias which will soon (probably in the next few weeks) give way to mostly greens, red radishes, and cold-hardy herbs. I want to share this poem about summer giving way to autumn:
September Tomatoes by Karina Borowicz
The whiskey stink of rot has settled
in the garden, and a burst of fruit flies rises
when I touch the dying tomato plants.
Still, the claws of tiny yellow blossoms
flail in the air as I pull the vines up by the roots
and toss them in the compost.
It feels cruel. Something in me isn’t ready
to let go of summer so easily. To destroy
what I’ve carefully cultivated all these months.
Those pale flowers might still have time to fruit.
My great-grandmother sang with the girls of her village
as they pulled the flax. Songs so old
and so tied to the season that the very sound
seemed to turn the weather.
An autumnal bed of kale, zinnias, pumpkins, and more
Okra at various stages of life
Radish seedlings beginning to sprout
We spent the first day of Autumn building compost. We used up our bin adding amendments to the garden throughout the season and it was time to get things rotting again. Composting is complicated, but only if you think about it too much. It’s really a simple process of using greens (nitrogen) and browns (carbon) to decompose scraps into compost to feed your garden. Damien learned a lot about different composting methods and practices during time spent working in gardens up north, taking into account both scientific and intuitive perspectives. I’ve been learning from him over the past few years and want to pass on a little bit of knowledge and show you how we do it.
Composting organic waste for use in the garden improves soil health, keeps food waste out of landfills, recycles nutrients from food waste back into the soil helping other plants to grow, eliminates the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, attracts beneficial insects and microorganisms, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions– and it’s easy, I promise!
There are so many different methods and people have varying preferences about their compost. I’d love to share with you how we approach ours. Our compost bin was made from untreated scraps of wood and chicken wire. It sits in our backyard next to our shade garden and has plenty of airflow. We water it once or twice a week, stir it every now and then, add our food scraps every few days, and otherwise pretty much leave it alone. After it’s all been used, we have to get it going again and here’s how we do it:
Note: You don’t need all of these things. This is just what we had available to use. We don’t always have this much material, and when we don’t, we just add material as it becomes available to us, giving the pile a stir when something is added.
Note: You don’t need all of these things. This is just what we had available to use. We don’t always have this much material, and when we don’t, we just add material as it becomes available to us, giving the pile a stir when something is added.
First, gather your materials. Some sources say you need about 60% brown material (carbon) and about 40% green material (nitrogen), while others prefer a 70/30 mixture. It depends on your environment’s humidity and temperature. It doesn’t have to be an exact science, and you may have to adjust the ratio based on how your pile behaves. I will explain later how to monitor your compost to see when and how to adjust it. A few examples of browns are leaves, wood chips, straw, and cardboard. Some examples of greens are fresh grass clippings, food waste, coffee grounds, and fresh manure. We mow or scythe paths through our grown-up fields and use those grass clippings and collect manure from the chicken coop for our greens.
scything
and raking
Side note: we also use grass clippings as bedding in the chicken coop, letting them compost it for us after picking out most of the bugs and seeds. We cut the grass, rake it into a bucket, and unload it in the coop in a big pile (or two). The chickens love fresh grass days as they really enjoy jumping on the pile, picking out snacks, kicking it around and spreading it all around the coop. They’re super-efficient composters– it’s really amazing to watch them work.
fresh grass day
You don’t have to have a field or even a yard to get your greens. You can use things like kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, and even the hair that collects in your hairbrush.
Brown material provides carbon for the organisms that break down materials in your compost. They also provide structure and help with aeration as the materials break down. If you have too much of this, decomposition will slow significantly and you will notice things aren’t heating up and breaking down. If you don’t have enough browns, you will have a wet, smelly mess. It’s important to watch this over time and adjust your ratios accordingly.
*NOTE: There are videos included in the Substack post that cannot be added to this blog post. Please see the Substack post (free) at https://foxhollowfarm.substack.com/p/composting-a-good-balance-of-science.
After you have gathered all your green and brown materials, you need to layer them in the bin, watering the layers as you go. We begin by mixing all the materials together, layering greens and browns,
then adds food scraps from our kitchen (green), more leaves and dry grass (brown), and last, more fresh grass clippings (green) followed by a bit more leaves. As we add those final layers, we make sure to water thoroughly all the way through, and close it up to let nature do its thing!
Finally, you have your compost pile ready to start decomposing! This sets the compost up to start raising the temperature in the bin so that the process begins. This will take some time. While you wait, you can add kitchen scraps every few days, stirring it up with a pitchfork about once every other week or as needed, and watering it a couple of times per week. After your pile has begun breaking down, you can use this as an amendment in the garden in place of synthetic fertilizers.
At this point, you just need to monitor the compost to make sure it stays healthy. There are several important factors to keep an eye on:
Moisture: You want to make sure the pile stays moist but never sopping wet.
Temperature: Heat is generated as microbes begin to break down the material within the pile. If you have a good balance of nitrogen and carbon, it should heat up to 120-160 degrees Fahrenheit.
Smell: A balanced compost should smell like rich earth after some time. A nasty odor is likely the result of too much nitrogen (green material), in which case you should add more carbon (brown) material. If you have a foul-smelling pile and don’t adjust it, it will go anaerobic (lacking oxygen) and the smell will get worse, and your pile may even produce methane.
Creatures: Microbes and invertebrates are your compost’s best friends. If you see little creatures like centipedes, pill bugs (roly-polies), Mycorrhizal fungi, and worms, you’re probably in good shape.
Composting is crucial for garden health and human health. It’s a way to make sure all of our organic scraps are put to good use and do not ending up rotting in a landfill, contributing excess carbon to the atmosphere. It’s also accessible in that you can do some form of composting no matter what your living situation and resources are like. In an apartment with no balcony in a city or town that doesn’t recycle organic waste? You can start a vermicompost bin with just a plastic bin, some newspaper, food scraps, and worms. Have a backyard? All you need is a DIY bin, grass clippings, dry leaves, straw, or wood chips, and food scraps. Composting also mitigates the need for synthetic fertilizers, which are a massive contributor to climate change (see my previous post).
Now get composting! Are you feeling empowered to give it a go? I would love to see your composting setups, so please share in the comments or tag us on the Fox Hollow Facebook page. As always, thank you for reading, sharing, and learning with us.
Until the tomatoes fade,
Allyson
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