On Saturday, Amy from the Conservation Foundation led a workshop for Church of the Savior on composting. During this hands-on presentation, the kids flipped logs to discover the creatures that live in the soil, dug up worms, and mixed together yard and kitchen waste to begin the composting process.
This workshop built on our summer curriculum in Children's Worship on creation, both the goodness of God's creation and the problems brought by sin.
Our children, and our congregation, are considering the question of how they can honor and care for God's good creation. Composting is one concrete way we can reduce the waste we send to landfills and enrich the soil in our flower beds and vegetable gardens.
Composting takes plant-based food waste and yard waste and, with the help of critters from worms to microorganisms, breaks this organic material down into rich soil. The process may sound daunting, but here are some resources to get started composting and to address composting issues as they arise:
Composting Essentials: learn the basics of composting here.
Composting Systems: this guide discusses the cost and work involved in different composting methods.
Balancing Composting Materials: a healthy compost pile balances "green" and "brown" material. Greens are wet, like food scraps; browns are dry, like leaves or shedded paper. This chart gives examples of greens and browns to help balance your compost pile.
Composting Dos and Donts: wondering if you can compost fireplace ashes or leftover rice? This guide has your answer!
And for a wonderful example of composting in action, you can walk out to the community garden behind PHCC! This year, they are composting in the large black bin, and you can watch paper scraps and garden waste turn into lovely, nutrient-rich soil that will feed next summer's vegetables.
