Composting: Federally Decomposed Organic Fertilizer

In the chapter of “Will’s Compost” from The Good Food Revolution by Will Allen discusses about a bad side and a good side of urban agriculture. Urban agriculture is booming in United States and there are a lot of non-profit organizations involve to create a strong urban agriculture progress. Allen also mentions that most of people living in urban areas are highly integrated with food insecurity and also most of the farmers had sold their land to the developers. From my reading, I started to have a thought about the benefits of urban agriculture. Does urban agriculture offers any other benefits other than what Allen has mentioned and through out its progress, is there any challenges faced by the farmers?

It is simply the way of the future. All revolutions come with a price; the American revolution came with the price of many American lives and this smaller revolution will come with the price of disregarding the “cultural norms” that society has sculpted around burial and cremation. This practice is barely even a practice right now, but with the voices and bodies of the many who want to help our earth, this will be the new norm someday. Giving back to the earth through human composting is the ultimate thank you for keeping us alive and

Bloom, J. (2010). American wasteland: How America throws away nearly half of its food (and what we can do about it). Cambridge: Da Capo Press.

With the introduction of vermicompost in the soil , it increases the soil fertility because of the increased microbial activity and plant growth regulator with increased insect repellence ability ( Sujit, 2012 ). Vermicompost in more beneficial compared to inorganic fertilizer because it has more nutrient content and more eco-friendly . Researchers have found that vermicompost contains 5 times more available nitrogen, 7 times more available potash and 1.5 times more calcium than the top 15 cm good soil ( Parkin et al., 1994 ). The main benefit of vermcompost is the contain of humic acid and nitrogen , which is a good indicator of biological maturity and chemical stability of soil (Campetelli et al., 2008). It act as an binding agents for various plants essential nutrients like phosphorous, potassium, calcium, iron, sulphur etc. Such nutrients in humic

Have you ever walked around a school campus just minutes after the lunch break? Well if you have, you may have observed the absurd amount of wasted food spilling out of trash cans and scattered around the concrete floors. It makes you realize how much food we waste daily, and how preventable that is. With that, it is mandatory that Mills High School should be required to have composting and more recycling bins around campus, this would be beneficial to our planet and the upcoming generations.

Soil turnover - as soil is moved around by digging animals, organic matter is mixed through which distributes nutrients throughout the soil

In fact, stone mulches can actually change the soil’s pH decreasing acidity and increasing alkalinity, which can be detrimental when growing acid-loving plants. They cover a smaller area per bag, can be more labor intensive to install and lighter colored stones can actually increase the soil’s heat and reduce moisture retention. Applied too thick, stone mulches can impede water getting to the plant’s roots.

They play a key role in regenerating and displacing soil. Earthworm activities changes both physical and chemical characteristic of soil. They help convert organic matter to humus. Additionally, they ingest other particles (sand grains) and when it is digested and excreted, it is accessible for plants to take advantage of its minerals and nutrients. Physically, the earthworm creates tunnels for air and water to navigate the soil. () They play an essential role in fighting erosion and are vital to plant growth. Healthy soil is depended on a thriving worm population. The ability to break down organic matter and excrete nutrients makes the earthworm valuable to restoration projects. Some people have employed earthworms to prepare soil for the return of native flora. Individuals that utilized this idea have seen better results in the return of their soil ecosystem than previously used methods. The number of

Imagine you lived during the time period where poor farming techniques were created, and dust was being deposited or dropped into your lungs, forcing you to walk slowly down the steps of death. The phenomenon, the Dust Bowl, took place in the United States during the years around the 1930’s. It was an event that occurred in the United States, where the area it was taken place did not have moist soil, healthy crops, and a considerable amount of water. During this time, the soil was poor, meaning there was a small amount of nutrients in it. From this, it caused the seeds being planted to wilt, and die.. Compost helps the nutrients and moisture to stay within the soil, in order to allow the plants to not wither from being over watered or the lack of this liquid.

70. Humus is an organic part of soil and is made by the decomposing of plants

To succeed in the initial stage of this project, a composter, site and strategy need to be set in place. In order for the project to be financially feasible, it is important to identify how much material is available, how many and what type of generators we are to serve, and how much material is expected to be generated by the project.

In his new position, Maple introduced his new computerized Charts of the Future. For the first time, precinct commanders were held accountable for crimes in their area (Dussault, 1999). And for the first time that anyone could remember, crime in New York City began to decline.

Mulch Regulates Soil Temperature: Mulch adds a protective layer that protects your plants' root systems from temperature changes. It helps plants avoid frost damage

Decomposition is the state or process of rotting away. PH determines whether a chemical is an acid or a base depending on the number from 0-14. The solutions being used will be vinegar and baking soda. The hypothesis is that if vinegar and baking soda are added separately to different containers of compost then the one with baking soda will decompose faster. This is because acids can be used to stop metals from rusting, therefore stopping the deterioration of metal. If this is so, then the same might be said for decomposition. To test this, the main ingredients of compost will be gathered. Those ingredients are banana peels, lawn clippings, pine needles, vegetable and fruit peelings, and shredded leaves to be put into six separate containers with the same amount in each. Two containers would have layers of baking soda added, another two would have layers of vinegar, and the last two would be unchanged. The containers would be left outside. Every week a picture and measurements would be taken of each. After three months, the results will determine the answer to the hypothesis. There is no history of this experiment being done, but other experiments have been done involving decomposition rate like how long it takes for different materials to decompose and testing different materials in compost. It is good to use materials that contain a lot of nitrogen and carbon rich materials. Most plants and micro-organisms operate best in a pH median between 6 and 7. Average garden soils range from 5 to 7 (Urban Garden Center, 2014). Vinegar has a pH level of 3, and baking soda has a pH level of 9. “A low pH indicates an acidic soil, and this can have a major impact on the decomposition of organic matter. Bacteria -- the organisms most responsible for breaking down organic matter -- experience a sharp drop-off in activity once the pH drops below 6.0.” (Dawn Walls-Thumma).

The reason for the mass of that pile of leaves decay according to the laws of thermodynamics would be composting which is a natural way by which microorganisms break down organic material as a finished compost. The material for known as humus is very rich in nutrients and is used as a natural fertilizer. In aerobic respiration, cells oxidize organic compounds, obtaining the energy from the chemicals bonds which can later be converted to ATP. Then we have aerobic bacteria which is one of the most important organism in the composting process, breaking down organic material through aerobic respiration. In this case with leaves they are made up of cellulose which is made of glucose molecules.The vast majority of it will be converted into gases that are ventilated throughout the air. Some of the gases you would probably find would be from the compost pile which includes carbon dioxide and water. (Freudenrich , 2001) (Raven, Johnson, Mason, Losos, & Singer, 2013)