Amending with Compost
Fall 2024 is here and our farm plan has us planting hazelnut seeds this fall and preparing market garden beds for planting next spring. Getting this work completed while working our day jobs makes it a goal we need to stretch to reach. Layered on top of that is fact that we’re beginning farmers and every step is fraught with tinges of uncertainty no matter how much research, study, asking for advice we have done. The first time is still the first time.
We’ve been composting our food scraps for many years. Carolyn started us off while living in our Brooklyn apartment; saving our vegetable food scraps and coffee grounds in the freezer and then Carolyn would carry them and our small dog, Ginger, on the subway to the farmers market at Union Square. Carolyn has been the vanguard for composting in our family because she is committed to protecting and regenerating the planet with every small act we do on a daily basis and partly I think because she is a Capricorn and waste not won’t not is a strong ethic for her. The result is beautiful, healthy and alive soil; it’s really fascinating when I slow down and meditate on it.
One of the first things we did when we moved to the farm was set up our own compost pile. It was a very primitive layered static pile; food scraps, hay, soil and cow manure. Two years later we had what we thought was vibrant soil and it was for the most part. I used it to amend our garden the first and second season with good results. However in hindsight and insight from our soil scientist friend, Jimmy Schmidt, we discovered that we needed more oxygen to optimize the biology in our compost. Furthermore, we learned that the biology of our pile was ideal for early succession plantings like vegetables.
This past summer Jimmy spent two days with us soil sampling, teaching us, and collaborating on an outreach structure to share soil science and biology management practices with others in our Bovina/Delaware County community. We also spent many hours discussing a biological no till method to start our market garden vegetable beds. Optimizing the bacteria/mycelium ratios and managing the existing compacted soil with compost teas injected into the existing soil.
Carolyn and I as new farmers embrace working in harmony with the biology of our biome and we’re so grateful to our elders who have worked the land with biologically integrated methods showing us and those like us the path. We’re also very grateful for all of our fellows who are exploring, defining, refining and communicating the path to us. In fact, we want to participate by hosting Jimmy Schmidt this October 19th on our farm for a 3 hour workshop presenting composting methods and the biology therein.
I’ll be working on the fall field preparations and orchard plantings in between preparing for the workshop, apple picking, apple pressing, residing the south side of the dairy barn, attending the Real Organic annual conference and too many other things to mention.
For more information on Jimmy and his company “MBG” please follow this link.