Composting: A Recipe for Success

Try this recipe at home. Chances are, you have all the ingredients, and you can cook it slow or fast. When it’s done you have good, nutritious food in the form of nutritious soil that feeds your plants with a healthy diet.

If you’re growing vegetables, they will return the favor and nourish you with healthier produce than big agriculture can provide.

It’s as easy as starting a pile; see the directions in the sidebar. You don’t have to have a garden. Compost is good to spread on the lawn or around both indoor and outdoor plants.

Composting is a Triple-Win Solution:

Landfill waste is reduced up to a third per household by composting. All the ingredients for making good compost aren’t able to decompose when packed into landfills with no exposure to air and water. They become frozen in time taking up valuable space, rather than turning into healthy soil.


You save lots of money. Soil amendments are expensive. When you make your own soil, you save that money, plus money spent on fertilizers and pesticides. Healthy soil produces healthy plants that don't need fertilizer. Healthy plants are more resistant to disease and predators. This reduces or eliminates the need for pesticides or herbicides.

The less we dump, the less we contribute to the gases that are causing the climate crisis. Reducing the use of fertilizers and pesticides reduces the toxic chemicals accumulating in our groundwater and entering our wells and watersheds. Those toxins harm our health. They heat our streams, rivers, and lakes, killing the fish and other living things.

More information to start successful composting:

• https://composting.ces.ncsu.edu/home-composting/
• Composting Video by Sara Martin, biologist and local composting expert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCwv2_hENtE
• Video by Laura Armour on her personal efforts to begin composting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bhY8e36vTM
• A Power Point presentation on composting by Debra Shaw, Maggie Valley Community Garden: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18zSCgbtsB0D7vku8mcJbNi1wQFlG8CSa/view
• “The 7 Best Countertop Composting Bins” – Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbes-personal-shopper/2021/02/02/7-best-countertop-compost-bins/?sh=2b5ff637ba9e
• “Best Compost Bins Under $30 for Your Countertop” – Food Network
• https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/shopping/2019/04/best-countertop-compost-bins

Laura Armour is a freelance writer who lives in Haywood County. She is a member of the Western North Carolina Climate Action Coalition. https://WNCClimateAction.com