Science Saturdays: The Science of Composting Techniques

Описание: This is the sixth session in our Science Saturdays series and the second for our February focus on gardening! This week, we dug in to learn about three of the more popular residential composting techniques: heap composting, vermiculture, and bokashi fermentation. This week's conversations built on last week’s chemistry‑focused session, but we shifted focus into hands‑on approaches you can start in your home right away!

Topics we cover include:
• How microbes drive composting processes
• The difference between aerobic (with air) and anaerobic (without air) composting
• Why balancing carbon‑rich “browns” and nitrogen‑rich “greens” matters
• How macromolecules (carbs, proteins, fats) affect compostability
• Traditional heap composting - setup, turning, temperature, and seasonal limits
• Bokashi fermentation - how it works, what you can compost, and how to maintain a bin
• Vermiculture (worm composting) - choosing the right worms, bin setup, and benefits
• Troubleshooting
• And I share some of my own personal successes and failures with tumblers, worms, and bokashi!

And if you want to see this presentation and the Chemistry of Composting (previous presentation) as it was put together as a 1-hr presentation for the Crow Wing County Master Gardeners, go check out:    • Composting: Scraps to Soil   and the    / @cwcmastergardeners   channel!