Talking Around the Composting Bin

How can an environmental steward know so little about the composition of the matter she’s trying to protect? I guess I’ve been working so diligently to save the earth that I’ve neglected to learn about the earth. I suppose I knew in the back of my brain that soil is made from decomposed trees, minerals, rocks, vegetation, and so on. But on a surface level, dirt was something that was, well, dirty. That’s why I’m surprised by how much I love composting.

To say that I am not the outdoorsy type is an understatement. I have an almost pathological fear of insects (except spiders, only because they remind me of Charlotte’s Web). But now that I’ve taken the step of planting my first vegetable garden, I’m ready to learn some of the lessons I willfully ignored during high-school biology. Fortunately, I found out that you don’t have to know how to dissect worms to properly care for a garden. I was chatting over coffee with my friend Pat Gibbons, who owns the online store Green Earth Market. “I really do want to compost because ecologically it feels like the right thing to do,” I confide to Pat, “but I can’t bear worms.” Reassuringly, Pat said, “Well, there are ways around that. My store has some products that can help you get started." We jump online and he shows me different composting options. I ask Pat, “Which products do you recommend to set up a system that can help me get food scraps from my kitchen to my backyard on a consistent basis?” He recommended the Tumbleweed Tumbler Composter and the Composting Accessory Kit, which can hold the scraps in my kitchen using 100% biodegradable bags until I am ready to add them the Tumbler outside. (For you braver souls, a compost heap outside and a Tupperware container in the kitchen can work just as well and will cost nothing).

I’m loving my new kitchen compost kit and tumbler. My daughter is running around the yard picking up leaves and putting them in it. When we have leftover salad and such, we scrape it into the kitchen bin. We make a game of deciding what can and cannot go into the bin. These days I find myself peering into my tumbler several times a day (I hope this doesn’t mess it up - I’m also one of those who can’t resist opening the oven when the bread is baking). Now that I understand that microorganisms feeding on my table scraps are naturally producing nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus to fertilize my soil, I delight in watching the leaves and vegetables break down. I love the earthy smell. I can’t wait to feel the texture of the rich organic matter in my hands as I return these nutrients back to the earth so they can nourish my garden. I am in love with the whole process. As a bonus, compost is cheap! You can make it simply with the yard and kitchen waste you might otherwise put in a plastic bag and send to a landfill! It makes so much sense!

Knowing how excited I am about my composting system, my next-door neighbors are now adding their scraps to it. We are planning a joint vegetable patch between our homes. Gardening together is the ideal pastime for neighbors to talk about ideas, share our beliefs, and strengthen the fabric of our community. It occurs to me that teaching others to care for God’s creation only happens when we are willing to get our hands dirty. Nobody wants to listen to a big talker, but anyone can be inspired by someone who takes action.

And sometimes we need just need someone to hold our hand through the process like Pat did. It’s amazing how much a person’s understanding about the Earth can deepen once they learn the science behind it. Case in point: I now have my eyes on the Pet Poop Converter and the Worm Farm. Who knew???

Tending a garden, like searching for God, is instinctive in all of us. Environmental stewardship is nothing more than doing what comes naturally. Not everybody needs a public platform to inspire others to take care of our planet. A small vegetable patch will do.

Anna Clark is president of EarthPeople, a Dallas-based sustainability consulting firm. She is an author, a speaker, a columnist for Greenbiz.com, and a regular contributor to SustainLane. Anna lives in Dallas with her husband Michael, their toddlers Jordan and Ryan, and their pet Bullmastiff named Casper. Their home is the second LEED-certified Platinum residence in Dallas.