For the past six months now I’ve been composting on a large scale. All food scraps mixed with yard waste put into large row houses I had made of cement. The results are amazing: rich soil only after three months, with earth worms and all. I add EM (effective microorganisms) into the mix to help break everything down.

I harvested my first batch of ‘ready to use soil’ just last month, spread it all around my yard, especially around young trees, it’s like food for the trees and earth. The trees responded immediately, semi-yellowing leaves turned back into green in only a couple of days. The second batch is almost ready to use.

Thailand is a slash a burn culture, I got tired of breathing (other people’s) smoke for the past eight years, so instead of complaining about it which got me no where, I finally started acting by composting. It took me a little while to research, but I’ll give you the condensed version here, it’s easy:

1.) Equal parts Carbon and Nitrogen, that’s the secret. Save all food scraps, these count as nitrogen parts, also fresh lawn\yard cuttings. Anything that’s green, manures included. Cow and buffalo manure is great, horse manure is a little acidic, but can be used in small doses, same with chicken, duck, or bat guano. I sometimes use elephant manure because I live out by the elephants. It’s not quite as rich as the others, but it does the trick. Anyway, manure is not necessary, but helps speed up the process adding to the mix of richness, the more variety you use the faster the breakdown into rich, ‘live’ top soil. Dead leaves, small twigs and branches, anything brown and dead counts for carbon. The trick is to add equal ratios of carbon to nitrogen. Like when you were a kid in the sand box, remember making layer castles? Same concept.

2.) Everything should be watered. Once a week will suffice, you want everything in the piles to stay moist, like a wet sponge, but not overly saturated.

3.) Keep the piles aerated, once every couple of weeks or so break the pile down and put it back together so that everything gets air and breaks down easily, usually after this you can water again.

4.) Make your own batch of EM and add this to the mix, once again this is not necessary, but why not add ‘more’ effective microorganisms into the mix? Making compost is all about spreading love and fertility, so get down with the EM! www.emamerica.com EM, like manure helps to break the compost piles down faster, so that you can use them sooner.

We can’t take all the credit for this most profound alchemical process, really it’s the microorganisms that do all the work, you will see for yourself once you start your own piles. When the piles are opened up, you can see all the life inside moving around, breaking stuff down, it’s breathtaking. Humans play a small part in this process, we just get all the parts together in the right order and place. Everything eventually breaks down, but why not have a role to play in the process? Good gardening starts with good soil. Happy Trails, get started!