If you have to send the trash in the collection truck to the land fill, you can do so with a clear conscience with Seventh Generation trash bags.

These bags are made from recycled plastic. That means that the bag is not going to break down much more than it has.

The manufacturer states that these bags are free of petrochemicals. In most cases that means that the product comes from a plant source. Often fruit fibers are used in creating various types of plastics.

Plastics made from fruit, bark, and vegetable fibers are easier for the elements to break down safely. They are also easier for smaller animals to consume.

Each Seventh Generation kitchen trash bag box contains 20 count boxes of 13 gallon bags.

These bags can be purchased online from Seventh Generation twelve boxes at a time. You can also search for other sizes and amounts including the 30 and 33 gallon variety.

Invented by Dr. Ehrenfired Pfeiffer, disciple of philosopher Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposphy and Biodynamic Agriculture, BD Compost Starter is one of the founding and essential products of Biodynamic Agriculture, with a unique spiritual and scientific preparation style that makes it quite different from other compost starters.

With the whole farm viewed as a living entity, everything in it is considered to be an integral part of this self-contained organism, complete with its very own individuality, emphasizing integration between livestock and crops, the recycling of nutrients, the well being and health of crops as well as maintaining the soil.

Based on Steiners prescription of eight different soil preparations to be used and the details on how to use them in creating quality humus, Dr. Pfeiffer innovated Biodynamic Agriculture with his BD Compost Starter.

The prepared substances are numbered 500 through 507; numbers 500 and 501 are used for preparing the fields, while 502, 503, 504, 505, 506 and 507 are all used for preparing the compost itself.

While rather complicated, somewhat extensive to explain here, or to be done by a beginner in Biodynamic Agriculture, it is both a fun and spiritually uplifting experience to actually create Biodynamic preparations oneself if taken the time to learn. In the end, when push does come to shove, every biodynamic farmer must choose for themselves what works best.

After Steiner released a series of eight lectures, Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture, he indicated several different preparations to be used in agriculture and these are what are now referred to as Biodynamic Preparations (BD preparations).

Instead of bringing straight chemicals into agriculture through such things as ammonia or urea, these chemicals are introduced through products such as manure or rock phosphate.

Beyond the Cartesian thinking of scientists from a mechanistic view of the world and physical reality that thinks along the lines of traditional soil chemistry; Biodynamic preparations also looks to understand cosmic forces that might also influence the preparation of soils and humus on a non-visible or esoteric level, much like gravity or magnetism, which cannot be observed by the naked eye, yet are observable.

Biodynamic Compost Starter (BD Compost Starter) ultimately failed economically, as it was not something that could be readily spread with the common fertilizer spreader used by farmers at the time of its release and as this technical difficulty could not be overcome it was carried on almost single-mindedly by Josephine Porter in the United States for nearly 30 years until her death in 1984.

See also:
Biodynamic Farming & Compost Preparation

Our Book Review:
Principles of Biodynamic Spray And Compost Preparations

Getting down into that buried pile of kitchen scraps once a week or once every two weeks may not sound like fun to some people, but those who understand the whys and hows of composting on the other hand; can have a lot of fun with a cold pile.

Children just love cold pile composting, especially when adults are interested in talking about it. Not everyone is like you or I and enjoys digging up a putrid rotting mass of left-overs just to pile more on, but that could change if they knew what is so kool about it all.

Like most cold pile composters, I look forward to that special day every two weeks when I can open up my cold pile and harvest some “black-gold of the earth.” And sure enough, I can, as long as I keep a couple of practical things in mind like:

1. Are only organic wastes going into the pile? (left-overs, kitchen scraps, paper, wood…etc)
2. Are these materials going into the pile free of harmful agents? (toxic wastes, high concentrations of insecticide or other pollutants…etc)
3. Is the pile itself free of harmful agents that might be nearby? (acid rain, leaking sewer system, gas station or mechanic’s run-off…etc)

If we answer YES to all of those and keep our basic rules of cold pile composting in order, like carbon/nitrogen ratio and keeping new material well distributed throughout the pile with ample oxygen supply, two weeks is all it should take without a single scent.

Reminding people that for every 1 part of rotting animal or plant mass we throw along something like between 25 to 30 parts high carbon based materials: dry leaves, dry straw, newspaper, cardboard, woodchips or sawdust the pile might scare some people, but it should do the work itself if left alone.

What makes cold pile composting fun? Not the hows, but the whys! It may sound strangely religious, and I guess it is after all, but communion with nature and the earth!

I don’t want this entry to sound too personal, but when I get my hands in the dirt, I can feel myself connecting somehow, in a spiritual way.

To really get down to the earth and put your heart into making that cold pile; something that mother nature can be proud of; is not hard at all to do, but putting your heart into it, that is something that makes the pile take on a whole different meaning.

Nobody should ever be ashamed of having fun while composting a cold pile, it is as noble an art as any other composting technique, probably due to its simplicity. I myself just pick up a bag of sawdust at the furniture mill up the street and throw it over my pile once a month, looks great and smells like Douglas FirJ

Kids like to listen about why we compost, and showing them how simple it can be with a cold pile is a sure fire way to get more people back in tune with their heritage (the earth).

Cold pile composting is fun because it is prewritten in our very cells, from a time when our ancestors knew what it meant to respect the very soil we eat from.

Rejoice in the simplicity of composting your own cold pile today, be proud of that feeling, tell others and always try to just “let go” of all those worries, be one with the soil and you will be happy.

So we took the big step and purchased a farm. Our goal is to grow one hundred percent organically and start a farm composting business. Yes there are some suppliers of natural fertilizers however; the cost can be a major issue.

But can we not make our own organic soil amendment with natural products such as manure, leaves, and other organic materials such as dead plants?

The answer is yes we can. Not only will it benefit us financially but it will also help keep our farm healthy.

Lets take a look at some of the benefits of creating a composting business for your farm.

The benefits far out weigh any potential issues as long as you use common sense.

1. Management of manure. By using your animal manure for your compost you are helping to take care of potential smell and heath issues. Use common sense and always wear gloves and a mask when handling animal wastes. Collecting your animal manure twice a week also helps keep flies down. Make sure you situate your compost pile downwind at least one hundred yards away from your primary residence and water source.
2. Increased organic material and minerals in your soil. The main reason to use compost is to enrich your soil. By adding organic material you will increase your yields and also help prepare the soil for thefollowing years.
3. You can sell your compost. Many people do not think of this option. However if you contact local garden shops and cooperative extensions you can ask them to resell your compost for you. Be prepared togive them at least a twenty five percent of gross commission.

So we can logically justify having a compost operation on our farm now how do we go about starting?

The first thing we need to determine is what can we mix together to make our compost. The following are a good start. Leaves saw dust (other then Black Walnut), pine needles, shredded paper (no colored sections only black and white), dead plants, wood chips, and animal manure (other then swine).

Try to make everything a similar size so it will break down uniformly.

What I suggest is to start out the traditional way with a large pile you can mix bi-weekly with a backhoe. The easiest way to do this is to gather all your materials together wet it all down well. Using the backhoe mix the compost together, again soak the pile with water mix again with the backhoe. We now want to cover our compost pile with a black tarp; this will help increase the heat inside the pile. One key thing to remember you need airflow within the pile itself so never pack your compost pile down. If anything fluff your compost up so it will get more airflow.

When you first start to clear your land or clean up the previous owners mess make sure you start your compost pile. Last years crops make great compost ingredients. Plan now for next year. If possible let your compost work for a full four months. Mix your compost once every two weeks and you will have wonderful compost that you can use for your crops and also sell. The ability to legally call your crops organic will also increase your margin. In a sense compost is Mother Natures way of rewarding the farmer for being environmentally friendly.

When in doubt think of compost like wine, the longer it ages the better it becomes.

Use common sense and you can effectively create and manage a successful farm based compost business.

Related:
Farm Scale Composting Resource List
On Farm Composting Handbook

Normally a compost pile aka compost heap is just a place out in the backyard where people throw there organic wastes. But when studied, the compost pile becomes a living and thriving focus of knowledge about the world in which we live. A metropolis, of thermophylic microorganisms, that purify all of humankind’s organic wastes, in a natural and energy efficient manner. The compost pile becomes an intense learning environment for people interested in planning and meditating around an alternative future, filled with hope.

Many years ago in the ancient underground Greek cities of Kappadokya, in what is now central Turkey, organic wastes were dealt with by creating humus, and planting it in the garden. They did this by building compost piles and maintaining them. An art as simple as composting, brought prosperity to grape fields, and enriched an already fertile soil… When the Romans introduced sewer systems into western culture, they knew not the grave dangers that they would be creating through river sacrificing.

But compost piles survived the invasion of the Roman Empire, and can still be found today. Thriving metropolises of microorganisms and thermophylic decomposers, compost piles love to eat organic waste and turn it into the rich earthy substance we call humus. Dividing compost into “hot” piles and “cold” piles is most common. Hot piles usually are faster at producing humus, and cold piles take a little longer. Depending on what kind of pile used it could take 1 – 2 years to produce humus or as little as 6 weeks. It really just depends on how much care a person puts in to their compost pile.

A compost pile involves some basic equipment if it is to be done properly and safely. On the other hand, if humus is the only goal, then just dig a hole and throw the compost in it, cover it up with about eight inches of soil and that’s it (a real Kappadokian style “cold” compost pile). Later on however, humankind learned that by layering the ground with some highly carbon decomposers, like sawdust, peat-moss, wood chips, or old hay, by building walls and a roof, and keeping it far enough away from the house (at least 2 feet) to keep critters that might want to get into it outside, we could control the conditions of the compost. By keeping the compost “out” of the natural elements like rain, wind and snow, it can become a better place for thermophylic microorganisms.

Thermophylic microorganisms are important in a compost pile, since they are responsible for sanitation. They can get the interns of a compost pile up to a 140 degrees F, far above the necessary temperatures for killing any bad news pathogens. Microoganisms that do the job of composting need four basic elements for survival: oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and temperature. The different temperatures will define the kind of microorganisms that can exist at any given time, but oxygen, carbon and nitrogen are needed by all. Oxygen they breath, carbon gives them the energy they need to keep on going, and nitrogen offers stuff like proteins, cell structure, and genetic material.

By keeping the compost pile properly turned (could be once a week or month), the amount of oxygen can be evenly distributed throughout the whole pile. There are other ways, of course, like ventilating the compost pile, installing shafts in it from the very start or just basically shoving holes in it from the top. But turning, helps equally distribute the thermophyles, as well as mulching the compost better to give it a better look. In the end, an earthy smell should be obtained, and when you pick any given part of the compost pile up in your hands, that Grizzly Adams log house living off the land and in perfect harmony with nature kind of feeling should fill the human soul. If that happens, or something similar to that, then humus has been achieved, the compost pile is a success, and so is the person who composted it.