WEBVTT - Composting: Nature's Most Interesting Process 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:08.440 Hey, everybody, Chuck here with another edition of our think 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.280 Spring playlist, and right now this is something you should 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.680 all be doing, which is composting, and you can learn 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:16.400 a thing or two about it in this episode. Composting 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:21.120 colon Nature's most interesting process. It's really not too hard 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:23.680 and it really means a lot, so give it a shot. 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:42.479 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from HowStuffWorks dot com. 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:46.320 Hey, welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh the Man Clark. 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.520 There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and I think I'm neglected 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:55.400 to say last time you did. Guest producer Nola is 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:56.000 with us. 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:57.880 That's right. So if you listen to the Shroud of 0:00:57.880 --> 0:00:59.000 Turin episode and. 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:00.560 You're like, man, that's not was great. 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.280 Yeah, that was no thanks. 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:05.679 Nol this. 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:09.639 Show. Today, I've been replaying my one of my favorite 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.720 Simpsons jokes ever, it's over and over in my head. 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.039 I laughed already just hearing Simpsons jokes. 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:18.440 It was from the one of the Halloween episodes when 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:22.440 they did the Nightmare on Elm Street riff, these old 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:30.480 old ones where groundskeeper Willie was Freddy Krueger and he 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.200 turned into a I think like a shred or attractor 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:39.720 or something and ran over people or something, sure, and said, uh, 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:42.720 when you'd when you'd done, When I'm done, they're gonna 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:44.680 need to do a compost border them. 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:46.960 Oh wow, that is a bad joke. 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:48.960 Yeah, it was really good one of the I mean, 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:51.560 the Simpsons didn't get too punny, but that was a 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:52.600 that was a good one. 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:54.639 Well, anything goes on a treehouse before. 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:56.680 Yeah, you know, agreed. 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:01.680 So you know, there's a bunch of cities that have 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.680 kind of gotten woke to the idea that we should 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:10.519 be recycling or composting our food. Did you know that? Sure, 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.600 I saw a stat that said something like forty percent 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:17.919 of food gets wasted. But I got suspicious because I 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:23.320 also saw that forty percent of the stuff that goes 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:28.720 to municipal landfills or trash is food waste, which doesn't 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:32.560 necessarily mean it's wasted food, because I don't think you 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:36.280 would count like a banana peel as food waste. Is 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:39.440 wasted food waste? No, it's a box. 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.200 They're not counting food. Packaging is food. 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.480 No, But I think they're counting everything that has to 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:50.360 do with food that could conceivably be eaten as wasted food, 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:53.960 which is not the same as food waste. The point is, 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:57.040 the legitimate stat that I saw just about everywhere is 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.480 that if you took all the garbage that the United 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:03.240 States rose away into a landfill, forty percent of that 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:05.280 is food waste. And I'm sure some of it is 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.640 a whole cake some complete moron through a whole cake 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:10.440 away for no good reason. 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:11.440 I was on a diet. 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:14.080 Well that's actually a pretty good reason. But you know 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.880 what I'm saying, forty percent of all that trash is food. 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.000 The problem is you might say, well, who cares trash? 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.920 It decomposes. That's great, that's true. It does decompose, But 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.440 in the landfills that the United States uses, we make 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:31.960 sure they're anaerobic. Oxygen doesn't get down there, so a 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:36.920 whole different decomposition process takes place, and in a landfill, 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:43.120 in anaerobic decomposition, methane is produced. And methane is bad news. 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.880 Methane is something on the order of seventy percent worse. 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:50.800 I know, there's a much more scientific way to put it, 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:56.000 but it's seventy percent badter than carbon dioxide as far 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:59.600 as greenhouse gases go. Yeah, seventy percent more potent. How 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:03.880 about that? Yeah, okay, so you don't want methane. If 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:06.520 you have to choose between methane and carbon dioxide, you 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:08.480 want to go with carbon dioxide. And it just so 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:14.440 happens that if you compost food waste, mostly carbon dioxide 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.480 is produced. Methane's not. So if you're diverting this food 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:19.880 waste from the landfill, there's a whole bunch of different 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:22.760 stuff you're doing. Number One, you're saving all that forty 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.840 percent of the space for actual trash, So you're extending 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:29.120 the life of your land shirts. You're keeping all that 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:32.520 methane from being produced. And as if it couldn't get 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:37.560 any better, you are creating an amazing fertilizer that you 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.680 can use to grow. You could grow a tree out 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.080 of a shoe. This fertilizer is. 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:49.160 So good, the old shoe tree. Sure, uh, yeah, it's 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:52.440 We've danced around this a lot. We Well, you just 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:55.200 referenced our and I don't like to tootor on horns 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:57.520 a lot, But that Landfills episode was great. 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:01.680 Landfills, and don't forget the plasma incinerator one. 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:02.320 Yeah. 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:05.000 Great. Basically any of our waste management ones. 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.640 Are yeah, what else I think gorilla gardening. We touched 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:12.279 on this sum and a couple of others. We've mentioned 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:16.280 composting and to the extent where I thought we had 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.440 done one on composting, not yet, but we had not 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:23.240 until about five and a half minutes ago. And that's 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:24.719 a guess. So if you write and say like. 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.120 It was eight minutes, chuck, you're grounded. 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:30.880 So, like you mentioned, we did, I don't think these 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.960 numbers are accurate anymore. But we generate, let's just say, 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:36.760 a lot of millions of tons, hundreds of millions of 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:40.560 tons of trash, and about twenty five to thirty percent 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:46.000 of that is recovered through recycling, which includes composting, which 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:50.680 is good. But that number, if it was seventy percent, 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:51.440 would be amazing. 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:56.480 Does it include composting that that recycling number? Yeah, oh okay, yeah, 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:57.920 if it be seventy it'd be great. 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:01.320 Yeah, eighty, why not, Yeah, let's shoot for ninety. 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:05.520 Well, supposedly Seattle itself has a goal of something like 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.839 sixty to seventy percent of all of its trash being 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:09.640 recycled by the end of the year. 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:11.839 Of course they do, because Seattle does it right. 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:16.359 And they actually have compulsory mandatory composting now, like you 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:18.919 have to compost if you live in the city of Seattle. 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:19.840 Why don't I live there? 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:22.880 I don't know, I don't know. I asked myself that 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:23.240 a lot. 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.400 You know. Emily and I went for our two shows 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:29.039 ago on that lovely spring weekend. 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:30.400 Oh it was gorgeous and. 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:33.080 We stayed extra in Seattle and after we were like, 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:34.480 we're moving here. That's it. 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:35.279 It's a great town. 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:37.599 I've said it before on the show Dogs and Bars. 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:39.880 That was all it took. 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.320 Yeah, Dog Bartenders, but. 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:47.280 Again, Dog's plain poker again. It's easy to fall in 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:49.120 love Seattle on a perfect weekend in April. 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:51.880 Yeah, I hear it rains there a lot, though. 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:54.919 I'd still live there. That's a great place. And you 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.720 know what, you may see us again this year Seattle. Tease. 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:01.920 Tease, You're such a tease, all right. 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.840 So composting is great for a thousand reasons, but one 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:09.400 first and foremost is that it's not hard to do 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.560 and it's not expensive to do. No, if you just 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:17.080 want to be And there are many different levels of composting, 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:21.560 from big city programs to the home farmer that takes 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.440 it super seriously to just if you just want to 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.560 lessen the impact a little bit on your landfill, your 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.200 local landfill, feel like you're doing the right thing, and 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:36.000 get a little bit of nutrient rich goodness fertilizer to use. 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.120 You can have just a little, small, little composting operation 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:40.000 going on at your house. 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:43.360 Yeah, this is all. This is all you need organic waste. 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.440 And we don't even mean something that is like organic. 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.760 We mean like organic meaning it's composed mostly of carbon. 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.120 It was once alive at one point, right. 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.640 Yeah, and I made a poopy noise, which you can't 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:55.120 use poop. 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:56.320 So no, that's night soil. 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:58.800 That's the opposite of what I should have done. 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:07.680 What's a banana Soundoo? That's a banana sound right? 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.920 You need soil, you need water, you need air or oxygen. 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.240 Right. So the organic waste is the stuff you're going 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:17.920 to have broken down, which in this case, in the 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:20.920 case of a compost pile, is food the. 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.560 Soil well partially sure, but. 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:25.680 No, no, it's food for the things that are in 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:29.040 the soil, yes, right, it's an energy source, yes, yes, 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.560 and nutrient source for what's in the soil. So you 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:35.400 add soil. When you're adding soil, you're basically adding starter 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:39.839 culture to the compost. What you're doing is grabbing microbes 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.160 from say in your yard, and putting them on the 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.280 compost pile and say, dinner's ony. 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.839 They eat and poop, yes, but you don't want to 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:49.360 poop in it. 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:51.320 You need a little bit of water, like you said, 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:52.839 to keep it moist, but you don't want to keep 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:57.240 it over wet, because microbes like slightly moist soil and 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.600 then air because again again this is really really important. 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:06.880 You can let your compost pile degrade anaerobically, but it's 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:09.800 going to produce methane, which is bad for the for 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.360 the environment, bad for your neighbors, bad for your neighbors, 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.800 bad for you. It's gonna stink, it might blow up, 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:17.679 who knows. You don't want to smoke near what's called 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.200 a passive compost pile, so you want to just introduce oxygen. 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:24.240 And all this sounds very complicated. It's not. It's hitting 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:27.439 it with your hose. It's and by that I mean 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.240 spraying water on it with your hose. Is realized. You 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.520 can HiT's turning with your hose too. It's like turning 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:37.360 it over right with pitchfork. To add oxygen. It's as 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:38.160 simple as that. 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.080 Yeah, it's really easy. So what you're going to end 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.520 up with the end, like we said, is really fertilizer. 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:48.240 But it's uh, it's called humus. Don't call it hummus. 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:49.200 No, that's different. 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.240 That's two m's right. Uh, this has just one M. 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:57.000 And those little microorganisms in there, they're going to break 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:58.920 this stuff down. They're gonna eat it, they're gonna poop 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.640 it out and going to multiply, and there's gonna be 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:03.599 we'll talk about the critters a little more later, but 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:05.719 there're gonna be different critters along the way that eat 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.840 those critters than critters that eat those critters. And it's 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.160 gonna get really hot up in there. It might steam, 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.040 then it's gonna cool back down. It's gonna get smaller, 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.520 and it's just like this little micro environment. It is 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:19.320 really really neat. 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:21.600 There's actually a food web in there. There's a lot 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:24.960 of physics and chemistry that's going on. It is very neat. 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:31.280 I'm fascinated by it too. But the upshot of composting 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:35.200 is that you're taking something and it's being broken down 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:39.319 into its constituent parts so that it can be reused 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.880 by plants and the whole circle of life can start 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:43.440 over again. 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:47.800 Yeah, you're sort of just accelerating the natural process of like. 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:49.680 Rot, you're optimizing it. 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.960 Yeah, like you mentioned a passive composter, which is to say, 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:58.719 you know, lazy hippies, you could just throw all that 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:00.720 junk out of your window if you want it in 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.840 a big pile and throw your some grass clippings on 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:08.640 and throw uh, throw your your fall leaves on there. 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:13.960 Just leave it there, and that thing will eventually compost itself. 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:18.520 Well again, it'll produce methane. You'll blow up, or you can. 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:19.520 You know, you could turn it every now and then 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:20.679 and maybe avoid that. 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.640 But uh no, I think that makes it an active pile. 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:28.640 Well, uh, slightly active pile then, right, I don't mean 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:31.360 like every other day just to avoid methane. 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.040 Maybe, but that would still technically be an active pile. 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:38.760 It'd be a poorly managed active pile. Slightly active, poorly managed. 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:43.560 So I'm serious, that's what they call it. 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:45.840 I know, Okay, I've just we'd like to make up 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:47.240 our own names for things. I didn't know you were 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:49.520 going to cease that, and oh I was in your 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:50.560 nine I gotcha. 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:53.360 Sorry, we'll call that the doobie pile. 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.880 Okay, no, it's called active management. 0:11:57.080 --> 0:11:59.480 I just wanted to make sure that we got it 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:00.000 on the record. 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.480 So the big goal here is to reduce your waste. 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.480 They say in this article ultimately will save you tax 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:07.960 money because your landfill won't. 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:09.160 I thought that was hilarious. 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.320 Yeah, I mean, don't count on seeing any any tax 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:13.600 breaks coming anytime soon. 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.800 But that got William F. Buckley's attention. 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.200 Probably, So so do you how do you do this? 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:24.440 Let's say you want to start composting. Hmm, there's a one, two, three, four, 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:28.200 five step process to get this thing going. 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.000 Okay, well, let's talk about them. 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:32.480 The first thing you want to do is just pick 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:35.560 out the place you want to do it right, because it's, 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:36.679 you know, it's a bit of a mess. 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:42.000 It's it doesn't have to be necessarily, but depending on 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:44.360 your neighbors, they might be like, well, great, I'm glad 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:49.400 you started an unsightly pile of kitchen rubbish. Yeah, in 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.080 food waste that I can see from my deck. Thanks 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.679 a lot for that. So that's something you want to 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:59.000 keep in consideration. Apparently, even if you do have a 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:04.120 very well managed active pile, what would you call. 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.880 That I'm not making up funny name. No more jokes. 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:12.720 Ruined it it still it still may stink here there. Sure, 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.200 so you want it kind of away from the house, 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.640 but not so far away that if you're feeling lazy, 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:20.640 you're not going to go out and tend to it 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.880 on a daily or every other dayly basis. 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:26.800 Yeah. And if you have that much land that you 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:30.480 have a compost pile a mile from your house, good 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:34.680 for you. Yes, sure you got some acreage. There might 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.160 be some local rules, either from your hoa heaven forbid 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.960 if you have to belong to one of those, or 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.440 maybe just your municipality might have rules and regulations. 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:47.960 Yeah, so check with them first. Sure, that's what everyone 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.000 does before they start a compost pile. They go down 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:53.000 to city hall and say, what tell me the rules 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:55.319 and regulations surrounding composting in my yard? 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:57.440 Now, I think the first thing everyone does is start 0:13:57.480 --> 0:13:59.800 throwing their eggshells out the window. Sure, that's how it 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:02.559 all starts. It's like, I'm tired of these things being 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:07.480 in my trash. They recommend downwind because, like you said, 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.400 it might stink a bit. Sun is good in a way, 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:13.360 but you don't want it baking in the sun all. 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:15.679 Day, No, because it'll dry it out. Remember you want 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.000 it to be kind of moist, yes, and the sunlight 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:22.360 can actually dry it out. Sure, so you want apparently 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:24.800 the best place to put it is under a deciduous tree. 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:25.560 Good spot. 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:28.720 Yeah, because in the winter time there's no leaves on 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:30.840 the tree, so the sun's going to keep it warm 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.440 when it's cold. But during the summer it's going to 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:36.120 be shaded by the tree, so it won't dry out. 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.720 It's just perfect. It is a deciduous tree equals love. 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.320 Wind is good to provide little air, but you don't 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.520 want it blowing, scattering the stuff all over the place, 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:49.400 drying it out. Again, No good. What else? Drainage? Don't 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.360 start one in that old baby pool that you don't 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:52.960 want to throw. 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:54.600 Out, especially if your baby's in there. 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.560 Yeah, you want good drainage. Like generally you build either 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:04.040 build a bin. We'll talk about this stuff actually right now. Yeah, 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:09.480 but it's off the ground. Sure, it's on legs. Yeah, 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:12.720 although you can't have a pile, right, but you know, 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:14.840 generally you want to you want to build a bin 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:18.280 or buy a bin, right, And those things sit off 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.760 the ground, right because of drainage. 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:25.320 That's part of it for sure. Yeah, you also want 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.680 dirt rather than say like a concrete pad or something 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:29.200 like that. 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.360 Yeah, don't compost in your driver, Right, it's not a 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:33.920 good idea. 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.120 As far as structures go. You can, like you said, 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.000 you can go buy one. They're not very expensive from 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.480 what I understand, right, Yeah, it depends on the size. 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:43.880 You can also say go buy some cinder blocks and 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:47.800 build something like that. Sure, But basically you can cut 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:53.920 compost structures into two. There's a single bin and there's 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.960 a three bind system. So in the single bin system, 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.240 you put new stuff on top, new and appeals. This 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:03.320 is what I think of when I think composting. 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:04.239 You know bananabul. 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:08.040 Sure, Yeah, you put new stuff on top, and then 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:10.720 you take a pitchfork or shovel or something like that 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.880 and you work, you work it in to the compost. 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.120 And at the bottom of this structure, say it's open, 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:22.760 when you're walking up to it, the finished compost will 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:25.200 accumulate at the bottom. And the reason it accumulates at 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:28.720 the bottom is because it's a finer, finer grain. Yeah, 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:32.680 and that's it. Single bin new stuff at the top, 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:36.240 easy peasy stuff. That's in process in the middle, stuff 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.640 that's finished in the bottom, and it will just naturally 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:39.880 kind of separate like that. 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:42.080 Yeah, And when we're talking structure like that, if you 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:44.000 want to build one, you know, build a wood frame 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.080 and it's like got chicken wire walls and a chicken 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:49.840 wire bottom, and that gives you the air and if 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:52.080 you've got something to collect it underneath, it's going to fall. 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.600 You know, when it's small enough, right, some other stuff 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:57.040 might follow. You may need to add it back in. 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:57.760 Yeah. 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.040 But with the three bin system, you've got, well you've 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:04.000 got three bends, you've got the starter stuff, you got 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:06.439 the once it starts to break down, little stuff, and 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.119 then you have the more finished product, right, and you 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:12.800 have to actively manage that system. 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:17.280 Yeah, that say some sounds unnecessarily difficult, kind of like it, 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:18.560 Oh you're a three bin guy. 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.040 Well, we're about to get into this for real. We've 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:26.440 been lazily composting for a while, but we're we're doing 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:29.160 our whole backyard like we're getting rid of our grass. 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.119 Basically, what are you going to do? 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:36.800 Compost mulch and beds and plants and herbs. 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:40.200 And zerouscape cackdye in and all that. 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:43.600 No cackdye though we do have a palm tree. We've 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.639 had that forever though, you yeah, just getting rid of 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:47.960 the grass basically. 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:49.160 Because it takes up so much water. 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:55.359 It's just it's not good grass to begin with, and 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.919 I'm not the best about cutting it. Lawn mowers are terrible. 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:01.680 Plus you don't water enough. You never let a quarter 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:04.040 inch of water accumulate exactly. 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:07.880 Yeah, just and you know it'll look nicer. So part 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:11.080 of this in this company that's doing it is it's 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:14.359 not just a landscaping company. They're they're a there're a 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.920 bunch of hippies. So they're they're designing it in such 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.320 a way that that feeds itself. And part of that 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:24.360 is composting. Gotcha, anyway, long, long way of saying, we're 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:27.520 going to start, like for real composting very shortly. 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:28.960 And you're going with the three bin structure. 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:33.720 I don't know. I think I'm going to build it. 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.520 It's well, it's the structure Emily tells me to build. Okay, 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:38.000 that's the easiest way to say it. 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:39.440 Got yeah. 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:40.840 Uh, But if you buy one, like you were saying, 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.240 there's all different kinds just you know, look, look it 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.639 up online or go to a hardware store, and you know, 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:50.320 many of them will look like a big barrel on 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:54.119 legs and it literally turns like has a crank on 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.880 it to where you can turn this thing in circles. 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.199 It's old timing, so you don't have to use a 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.639 pitchfork at all. Right, you don't have to must your 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:02.440 hands or your hair. 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:07.600 It's like a bingo yeah, spinner, but with banana picks. 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:09.679 Have you ever played bingo, like legit bingo in a 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:14.600 room with hundreds of people, not hundreds, well more than 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.960 like you and you me, yes, like a bingo parlor? 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:18.920 Is that what they're called. Yeah. 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:24.679 I've actually gone to a couple of like senior retirement 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:29.159 homes and helped out with bingo. Wow, And that's a 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:31.919 pretty pretty cool experience actually, because. 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:32.560 Do you run the bingo? 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:35.800 It's, uh, you just play kind of qualified to run 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:38.560 the bingo right right, just walk around and point out 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:41.240 if somebody missed one that they you know that was 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:43.280 called that kind of thing, But did you want to 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:45.040 talk about taking it seriously? Do they? 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:45.400 Oh? 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:45.920 My god? 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:48.720 And then you have to be a certified bingo master 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:49.560 to run the show. 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:53.080 Yeah, and they'll like tell you to hurry up and 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:55.960 like shout if you're if you're not like loud enough 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:58.560 or fast enough or going too fast like. 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:00.720 So, the point is not to have fun, you know, 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:03.200 the point is to win. Wow, what do they win 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:04.160 their prizes? 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:07.840 Yeah? Nothing much usually, I mean, but you can, I think, 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.679 like you can play bingo and casinos for thousands and 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:14.280 thousands of dollars. Yeah, usually at old folks homes. They don't, 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:17.840 you know, sure there's not thousands of dollars prizes like 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:20.600 honey and nugarettes, right right, exactly? 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:22.879 All right, Well let's take a break here after we 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:26.959 have talked structure and uh, we'll talk a little bit 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:28.440 about what you want what kind of junk you want 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:29.120 to throw in that pile? 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:53.240 All right, chuck, So we're talking what you want to 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:53.920 throw on the pile. 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:57.520 Right, You got your ben either a triple three banger, 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:00.000 got your site or single. You got your site. 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:01.960 You bribed your neighbor to look the other way. 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:05.200 Your neighbor exactly. You bought a goat. 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:08.000 Oh man, talk about green living. 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:10.440 My neighbor has goats now like five of them? 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:11.600 Are they loud? 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:12.480 No? 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:13.480 Oh, that's great. 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:15.240 Everyone's a while to hear them, but it's a joy 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:18.080 to hear. So it's not like it's not like a rooster. 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:20.840 Do you wake up and look out and say morning satan. 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:24.960 No, Well, goat's one of my favorites, so it's kind 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:25.960 of nice to have them around. 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:27.440 Are they baby goats or adult goat? 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:29.119 No, they're big ones. I mean she got them to 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:32.480 maintain their property because she was tired of cutting. I 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:34.240 guess she didn't want to zero escape it, so she 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:40.960 bought goats. Right, anyway, it's it's awesome. Kitchen waist Josh, 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:42.040 that's what you want to throw in there? 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:43.760 Well, yeah, that's the first one. That's the one that 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:48.080 everybody says. That's why you compost, right, Yeah, and yeah 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.960 banana peals everybody knows that. But did you also know 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:55.200 you can compost apple cores in orange rindes. 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:56.679 You can also eat apple cores. 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:00.239 Yeah, you believe there is no such thing as a core, right, 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:04.920 because there's not seeing people who leave their apple corese 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:08.240 left over. They can compost those things. Those are the 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:10.960 easy ones. You can also do coffee grounds. 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:12.360 Yeah, that's a good one. 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:16.199 Paper filters, throw that filter and all in there. Well, okay, 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:18.719 so let's just say I ate maybe a whole pizza 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:21.480 to myself. I've got a couple of napkins wadded up. 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:22.720 What do I do with those? Chuck? 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:29.440 Uh? I think you can throw those napkins in there, Josh. 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:29.280 Isn't that crazy? 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:30.560 It is crazy. 0:22:30.720 --> 0:22:33.919 Newspaper Yeah, corn cobs if you still. 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:35.840 Read a newspaper, if you get your news on the internet, 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:43.119 throw your laptop in there. Watermelon rds, yeah, seeds, leaves, 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:47.359 you know, the butt end of the asparagus that no 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:50.000 one cooks. Throw that junk in there. 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:53.840 You can also do yard waste too, sure, right, so 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:56.480 you've got grass clippings, which we'll talk about in a second. 0:22:56.480 --> 0:22:58.359 We've got a couple of warnings as far as grass 0:22:58.359 --> 0:22:59.360 clippings goes. 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:00.120 Not too much. 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:03.800 But like let's say you're raking leaves or something like that. 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:05.240 Throw some leaves on there. 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:06.720 Yeah, good crunchy brown ones. 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:11.560 And you can also throw like trimmings from your like shrubs, 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:15.800 if you trim your woody shrubs. Okay, the key here 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:19.600 is this, chuck. You want to cut all this stuff 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:22.320 up in small bits. 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:25.440 Yeah, don't throw a whole corn cob in there. You can. 0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:28.360 Your compost pile will just throw it right back out. 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:31.040 Yeah, it'll just spit it right back out right. Very funny. 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:34.560 It'll make a burping noise. Yeah, they say to shred 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:36.800 the corn cob. I don't have a corn cob shredder. 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:37.400 I don't either. 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:40.640 I've never thought about that. 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:44.480 I wouldn't waste like my blender blade on chopping up 0:23:44.520 --> 0:23:47.640 corn cobs. I think the point is that's breaking into 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:49.960 a little piece of Sure, you can break it into 0:23:49.960 --> 0:23:50.920 little pieces though. 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:52.719 Yeah, you probably cut a corn cob up. 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:57.080 Yeah, and you can also, like you can take all 0:23:57.160 --> 0:23:59.200 this stuff and chop it. Anything you can put in 0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:01.800 a smaller pieces the better. Yeah, because, as we'll see, 0:24:01.840 --> 0:24:04.760 what you're really doing is you're not just breaking it up. 0:24:05.000 --> 0:24:06.520 You have to look at it like what you're doing 0:24:06.560 --> 0:24:09.600 is increasing the surface area. Some more microbes can work 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:10.760 on it at once. 0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:13.480 Yeah, Like if if you have I know you hate broccoli, 0:24:13.560 --> 0:24:17.840 butli you cut the little florettes off and you've got 0:24:17.880 --> 0:24:21.800 that big green broccoli stalk. Yeah, cut that thing up 0:24:22.119 --> 0:24:24.560 as small as you can, set it on fire you 0:24:24.560 --> 0:24:27.200 have patience for, and throw that junk in there. 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:33.400 Yeah, basically channel your inner anal chef Chris, you remember him. 0:24:33.680 --> 0:24:35.720 The anal chef. Yeah, was that a real thing? 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:39.280 Yeah? Insert live Phil Hartman. No, I don't remember anal 0:24:39.320 --> 0:24:42.160 retain of chef. Oh okay, I forgot the retentive part. 0:24:42.320 --> 0:24:46.320 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember, big qualifier. It's like, I 0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:47.080 don't get that joke. 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:50.080 Mommy, remember the anal retain of chef? 0:24:50.240 --> 0:24:51.159 Yeah, I do remember that. 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:53.240 Now. He'd like start to if he was dicing like 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:55.720 green peppers and one of them was bigger than the rest, 0:24:55.760 --> 0:24:57.680 he'd just be like, okay, well, you want to take 0:24:57.720 --> 0:25:00.040 those chunks and you want to put them into a 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:02.160 paper towel, and then you want to fold that up, 0:25:02.200 --> 0:25:04.560 and then you put that into some aluminum foil. You 0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:06.359 fold that up, and you put that in a paper 0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:08.320 bag and you roll it up and then you staple 0:25:08.359 --> 0:25:09.399 it and then you throw it away. 0:25:10.520 --> 0:25:15.359 Boy man, that was Oh still makes me sad. So 0:25:15.760 --> 0:25:19.240 you mentioned newspaper earlier. If you live near the ocean 0:25:20.200 --> 0:25:23.800 and you've got your hands on some seaweed or some kelp, 0:25:24.720 --> 0:25:27.960 you can rinse that stuff off, right, So you don't 0:25:27.960 --> 0:25:30.280 want all that salt content in there. No, but it's 0:25:30.520 --> 0:25:33.160 really good and nutrient rich if you rinse that off 0:25:33.200 --> 0:25:34.400 and put it in your compost pile. 0:25:34.600 --> 0:25:37.200 Yeah, and it's also good for you to eat too. 0:25:37.280 --> 0:25:40.120 I know I sound nuts, but just eat that stuff. 0:25:40.280 --> 0:25:42.600 What do you mean people, it's so good for you? 0:25:43.480 --> 0:25:44.920 Yeah? Sawdust? 0:25:45.960 --> 0:25:46.720 Do you know I eat that? 0:25:47.160 --> 0:25:50.120 No? But like I'm building my compost, man, I can 0:25:50.160 --> 0:25:52.000 put that saldust back in it. How about that? 0:25:52.320 --> 0:25:52.800 Yeah? 0:25:52.840 --> 0:25:54.200 Pretty neat circle of life. 0:25:54.200 --> 0:25:55.160 Baby? 0:25:55.880 --> 0:25:59.960 What should not you compost night soil which is poopy soil? 0:26:00.240 --> 0:26:00.520 Yep? 0:26:00.800 --> 0:26:06.800 And you don't go take a big dumpos No, no 0:26:06.880 --> 0:26:07.520 you want to. 0:26:07.600 --> 0:26:09.120 No, that's not good. 0:26:09.280 --> 0:26:09.399 No. 0:26:11.000 --> 0:26:13.440 Diseased garden plants, that's a big one. 0:26:13.600 --> 0:26:14.399 Yeah. 0:26:14.400 --> 0:26:17.200 Some of this stuff, though, as we'll find, doesn't quite 0:26:17.280 --> 0:26:19.320 make sense. But it's just good to err on the 0:26:19.359 --> 0:26:25.640 side of garbage in garbage out, except with compost. If 0:26:25.680 --> 0:26:29.000 you put garbage garbage in, then it's going to be 0:26:29.160 --> 0:26:32.760 really bad. If you put good, healthy garbage in, it's 0:26:32.800 --> 0:26:34.600 going to come out as is quite good. So you 0:26:34.600 --> 0:26:38.360 don't want to put any disease plants in there. Invasive 0:26:38.400 --> 0:26:39.840 weeds are another one too. 0:26:39.840 --> 0:26:42.000 Yeah, but it says you can also put weeds in there, 0:26:42.040 --> 0:26:43.560 So I guess you just need to figure out which 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:45.480 ones are the bad ones. 0:26:45.640 --> 0:26:51.280 Yeah, So this specifically calls out buttercups, morning glory, and 0:26:51.359 --> 0:26:55.240 quack grass. I'm quite sure that there's plenty of seeds 0:26:55.320 --> 0:26:59.280 that wouldn't survive the composting process. Yeah, but apparently these do. 0:26:59.480 --> 0:27:01.159 So stay away from the quack grass. 0:27:01.400 --> 0:27:05.879 Yeah, that was I think that was the big mantrat woodstock. 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:08.080 Sure it's a gateway drug. 0:27:08.200 --> 0:27:10.240 Don't have the yellow sunshine or the quack grass. 0:27:10.280 --> 0:27:12.720 It was the brown the brown ass brown acid, which 0:27:12.720 --> 0:27:15.639 I mean, who about the brown acid? You know? 0:27:16.920 --> 0:27:19.639 And what about you're talking about kitchen stuff? What about 0:27:19.760 --> 0:27:20.600 meat and dairy? 0:27:21.119 --> 0:27:23.120 Oh okay, that's that's controversial. 0:27:23.640 --> 0:27:27.080 It is because Emily has taken classes and they were like, no, 0:27:27.160 --> 0:27:27.960 don't use any of that. 0:27:28.160 --> 0:27:34.840 Yeah, that's like animal cells and fats in particular, they putrefy, 0:27:34.960 --> 0:27:40.080 they don't decompose, and putrefaction makes some stinky stuff, and 0:27:40.119 --> 0:27:42.600 I think it can also generate a lot of disease 0:27:42.640 --> 0:27:45.800 bearing pathogens. So I was surprised to see this article 0:27:45.920 --> 0:27:47.880 say yeah, yeah, put it in there. 0:27:47.960 --> 0:27:49.760 Well, And they kind of said in this article, if 0:27:49.920 --> 0:27:53.520 if you're really heavily managing this thing, you can do it. 0:27:54.080 --> 0:27:55.960 But I don't know, I've just heard don't. 0:27:55.920 --> 0:27:58.920 They said, turn it into a slurry, which I don't 0:27:58.920 --> 0:28:02.840 want to see freud Rich's blender at home fat slurry 0:28:02.920 --> 0:28:07.680 groas with corn cob leavings on it. But he said, 0:28:08.000 --> 0:28:09.959 whip it up into a slurry, and as long as 0:28:10.040 --> 0:28:14.560 it's a good, hot, actively managed pile, it'll it won't 0:28:14.600 --> 0:28:16.840 be a problem. I'm gonna go ahead and say, I 0:28:16.880 --> 0:28:19.159 don't think you should do that. Okay, I don't know 0:28:19.200 --> 0:28:24.840 what to do with the animal leavings, but I don't 0:28:24.880 --> 0:28:26.119 think you should compost it. 0:28:26.560 --> 0:28:29.880 All right, it might make sense to you to say, hey, 0:28:30.520 --> 0:28:32.880 I have an outdoor fire pit. I bet that would 0:28:32.920 --> 0:28:35.040 be great in my composter. 0:28:35.480 --> 0:28:41.000 No incorrect, Although this specifically says charcoal ashes. I think 0:28:41.040 --> 0:28:43.560 that's any kind of charred ashes. 0:28:43.720 --> 0:28:45.560 Yeah, like burnt wood is called charcoal. 0:28:46.160 --> 0:28:49.880 So are you sure? Because I know what you just 0:28:49.880 --> 0:28:54.520 said was true. But supposedly the entire Amazon basin, and 0:28:54.560 --> 0:28:56.840 I learned this from the Greatest Book of All Time 0:28:56.880 --> 0:29:00.240 fourteen ninety one by Charles C. Mann. The entire was 0:29:00.280 --> 0:29:05.240 on basin. It was a managed forest that the indigenous 0:29:05.280 --> 0:29:10.840 peoples down there had made completely fertile and feakend by 0:29:11.880 --> 0:29:15.120 instead of slash and burn, they were using slash and 0:29:15.240 --> 0:29:18.680 char techniques, and there was way more carbon locked into 0:29:18.720 --> 0:29:21.800 the charred tree stumps than there was the ashes, so 0:29:21.880 --> 0:29:24.880 it became more fertile. So I have a question about 0:29:24.880 --> 0:29:25.320 that one. 0:29:25.480 --> 0:29:29.640 You know, I'm going to back off of my determined 0:29:29.680 --> 0:29:31.560 stance because I don't know. 0:29:31.520 --> 0:29:33.840 It would make sense if it was coal, like if it. 0:29:33.840 --> 0:29:36.880 Was like charcoal briquettes, whcause they have cement and all 0:29:36.960 --> 0:29:38.440 sorts of chemicals and junk in them. 0:29:38.440 --> 0:29:41.040 But if it's charred wood or would ash I wonder. 0:29:42.040 --> 0:29:45.080 All right, well, somebody let us know, Charles C. Mann, 0:29:45.120 --> 0:29:45.760 tell us. 0:29:46.800 --> 0:29:49.920 The pesticide treated plants. You you know, you know my 0:29:50.000 --> 0:29:53.080 stance on pesticides period, don't use them. But if you do, 0:29:53.560 --> 0:29:56.200 definitely don't put that stuff in there. Because your whole 0:29:56.200 --> 0:29:58.080 thing here is you want to you want a more 0:29:58.160 --> 0:30:01.680 or less organic compost pot right in the end. 0:30:01.840 --> 0:30:04.480 And so one of the things that people love about 0:30:04.520 --> 0:30:07.880 composts is it actually is organic. And we're going to 0:30:07.920 --> 0:30:11.120 explain how. I didn't know this until we did this research, 0:30:11.280 --> 0:30:13.280 but we'll explain how because we're going to go through 0:30:13.560 --> 0:30:16.240 the process that your compost pile undergoes. 0:30:16.320 --> 0:30:38.640 Right after this shit, all right, I did something we 0:30:38.760 --> 0:30:41.120 rarely do which is look something up as we're podcasting, 0:30:41.160 --> 0:30:43.000 because it just sounded lazy. 0:30:42.720 --> 0:30:46.800 To be like, oh, we don't know this one. Gardenslive 0:30:46.840 --> 0:30:54.720 dot com says wood ashes are so strongly alkaline that 0:30:54.760 --> 0:30:56.480 it doesn't take a lot to upset the balance in 0:30:56.560 --> 0:30:59.600 the pile and stop the processing. You can add a 0:30:59.680 --> 0:31:03.520 very small amount of wood ash from like your fireplace 0:31:03.600 --> 0:31:09.200 or wood burning stove, but apparently not much. So okay, 0:31:09.280 --> 0:31:11.880 I think you know, like you're kind of right in 0:31:11.920 --> 0:31:15.040 that it's it's not completely fore boting, but but it 0:31:15.080 --> 0:31:16.720 sounds like too much is not a good thing. 0:31:16.800 --> 0:31:18.720 I think that's what Freuden was just saying, like, don't 0:31:18.760 --> 0:31:22.360 even mess with it, okay, put in animal fats instead. 0:31:22.680 --> 0:31:25.560 Well, and that's what the person from gardens Alive was saying, 0:31:25.640 --> 0:31:27.800 is like, it's so little that it's not really going 0:31:27.880 --> 0:31:29.680 to make a difference. And if you're trying to get 0:31:29.720 --> 0:31:31.640 rid of it in a different way, right, She's like, 0:31:31.680 --> 0:31:32.600 it's not really gonna matter. 0:31:32.680 --> 0:31:35.280 But the but it raises a great question, Chuck, why 0:31:35.600 --> 0:31:38.040 in the name of all things holy would it matter 0:31:38.240 --> 0:31:42.600 what the alkalinity is of your compost pile? And I'll 0:31:42.600 --> 0:31:43.680 tell you why. 0:31:44.280 --> 0:31:46.000 Because it's a chemistry experiment. 0:31:46.120 --> 0:31:48.320 It is. It's a it's a chemistry experiment, but it's 0:31:48.320 --> 0:31:52.760 also a biological experiment. You have a microcosm growing there, 0:31:53.160 --> 0:31:56.280 and there's actually really easy things you can do to 0:31:56.400 --> 0:32:00.880 optimize this and basically create a XANADU pair dice for 0:32:01.040 --> 0:32:07.120 the the microbes and primary and secondary and tertiary consumers 0:32:07.160 --> 0:32:09.240 of this stuff that you're putting in there to break 0:32:09.280 --> 0:32:12.680 down so that they just have the greatest life that 0:32:12.800 --> 0:32:14.920 any invertebrate or microbe ever had. 0:32:15.560 --> 0:32:17.680 All right, should we talk chemistry a bit then come 0:32:17.720 --> 0:32:19.760 back to just the management and stuff. 0:32:19.840 --> 0:32:20.040 Huh? 0:32:20.080 --> 0:32:22.880 All right, what you're really talking about here. For an 0:32:22.880 --> 0:32:28.040 ideal composting scene, you need a disco ball, right, and 0:32:28.120 --> 0:32:32.719 you need a proper c in ratio, which is carbon 0:32:32.760 --> 0:32:36.360 to nitrogen ratio. And depending on how wonky you want 0:32:36.360 --> 0:32:39.600 to get, if you want to start measuring things, you 0:32:39.600 --> 0:32:43.880 can do that. But from what I gather, just try 0:32:43.920 --> 0:32:47.600 and do a lot too, a little about thirty to 0:32:47.600 --> 0:32:51.880 one carbon to nitrogen r and eyeball it. 0:32:52.160 --> 0:32:54.600 When the rule of thumb is this, if it's green 0:32:55.080 --> 0:33:02.400 and recently deceased and by green, like a nice banana peel, 0:33:02.520 --> 0:33:07.040 would qualify as this. Right, if it's pliable and green 0:33:07.440 --> 0:33:14.600 or you know, again recently deceased, it is high in nitrogen. 0:33:15.760 --> 0:33:20.040 If it's brown and dried, it's high in carbon. So 0:33:20.400 --> 0:33:22.800 you want to actually when you're adding the compost, you 0:33:22.840 --> 0:33:24.960 want to just kind of layer this stuff in about 0:33:24.960 --> 0:33:28.280 those ratios thirty to one. And there's actually tables, like 0:33:28.320 --> 0:33:30.560 if you're a big time into this, there are tables 0:33:30.600 --> 0:33:33.360 out there that tell you just about exactly the carbon 0:33:33.400 --> 0:33:38.360 and nitrogen ratio in each individual thing. But what we 0:33:38.400 --> 0:33:41.920 said earlier, you want to avoid grass clippings. This is why, 0:33:42.440 --> 0:33:46.040 because they're too high in nitrogen. And what happens when 0:33:46.080 --> 0:33:49.880 you have too much nitrogen it's bad, right, It makes 0:33:49.920 --> 0:33:50.800 your pile stinky. 0:33:51.600 --> 0:33:53.880 Yeah, that's is that where the methane starts creeping in. 0:33:54.240 --> 0:33:58.400 That actually leads to ammonia gas. Okay, But you also 0:33:58.400 --> 0:34:02.840 don't want too much carbon either, Yeah, because so carbon 0:34:02.920 --> 0:34:05.640 and nitrogen. Carbon is like the building block, and it's 0:34:05.640 --> 0:34:10.520 an energy source for these microbes. Nitrogen is essential to 0:34:10.600 --> 0:34:13.600 their growth and their metabolic activity as well. Yeah, but 0:34:13.840 --> 0:34:17.400 when they have this in these concentrations, that's when they flourish. 0:34:17.840 --> 0:34:19.600 Yeah. And the other problem with carbon too is it's 0:34:19.640 --> 0:34:21.120 just that it breaks down so slowly. 0:34:22.280 --> 0:34:23.560 Well, it depends on the source. 0:34:24.080 --> 0:34:27.800 Yeah, that's true. But generally a lot of the carbon 0:34:27.840 --> 0:34:30.640 sources like newspaper and corn cobs and stuff like that, 0:34:30.920 --> 0:34:33.040 it's just a much slower process. 0:34:32.760 --> 0:34:38.920 Right right, So like they have much tougher structural support 0:34:39.000 --> 0:34:39.800 in their cells. 0:34:39.880 --> 0:34:43.319 They have structural integrity exactly. They need to have a 0:34:43.360 --> 0:34:47.520 good saying that rhymes like if it's yellow, let it meto. 0:34:47.560 --> 0:34:50.319 If it's brown, flush it down. Sure, I thought you 0:34:50.320 --> 0:34:52.200 were heading toward that. I was just kind of like 0:34:52.239 --> 0:34:54.280 on the edge of my seat. No, like, if it's. 0:34:54.120 --> 0:34:55.319 Green, I've walked right past. 0:34:55.400 --> 0:34:58.000 That's brown. Maybe there is one that we don't know, 0:34:58.120 --> 0:35:02.320 or maybe someone can write one, like a creative listener. 0:35:02.440 --> 0:35:04.000 I would love to hear it. I'll bet we get a 0:35:04.000 --> 0:35:04.760 bunch of those. 0:35:05.120 --> 0:35:09.040 All right, oxygen if you're talking, if we're talking ratios 0:35:10.680 --> 0:35:13.160 and again, you can walk out as much as possible. 0:35:13.200 --> 0:35:16.239 But the good news is about your compost piles. It's 0:35:16.280 --> 0:35:18.239 not like it needs to be like the oxygen that 0:35:18.280 --> 0:35:21.399 you need no walking around to breathe. 0:35:21.120 --> 0:35:23.239 Which is I think twenty one percent in the atmosphere. 0:35:23.320 --> 0:35:26.000 Yeah, that's what we have going on. It can get 0:35:26.040 --> 0:35:29.520 by these aerobic microbes as low as five percent. 0:35:29.880 --> 0:35:31.120 Yeah, that's cutting it close. 0:35:31.200 --> 0:35:33.400 It's cutting it close. They say, try to hover somewhere 0:35:33.440 --> 0:35:36.759 around ten or up right. And how do you measure that? 0:35:36.960 --> 0:35:40.040 You don't? You just aerrate your pile and it's fine. 0:35:39.840 --> 0:35:42.759 By either turning it or you can do hold PVC. 0:35:44.239 --> 0:35:47.080 And I guess it brings us kind into the management part. Sure, 0:35:48.400 --> 0:35:51.200 you don't just sit there unless you want to have 0:35:51.239 --> 0:35:55.759 a totally passive pile. And who wants that? You have 0:35:55.800 --> 0:35:58.080 to manage this thing, either every day or every other day. 0:35:58.080 --> 0:35:59.920 Turn it, like we were saying, sure, either with the 0:36:00.200 --> 0:36:02.919 little crank if you've got a handy little barrel unit, 0:36:03.400 --> 0:36:06.279 or with a pitchfork or they call it a composting 0:36:06.400 --> 0:36:07.120 fork in here. 0:36:07.800 --> 0:36:08.680 That's pretty fancy. 0:36:08.760 --> 0:36:09.680 Probably the same thing in there. 0:36:09.719 --> 0:36:11.760 It's the same thing as a pitchfork, except like fifty 0:36:11.800 --> 0:36:12.399 dollars more. 0:36:14.480 --> 0:36:17.480 You want to water it some, but again, do you 0:36:17.480 --> 0:36:18.560 want to give watering advice? 0:36:20.360 --> 0:36:22.160 You don't want it for me. You don't want it 0:36:22.200 --> 0:36:26.720 to be soaking wet. No, you wanted to be moist. Yeah, damp. 0:36:27.000 --> 0:36:30.759 People hate that word, so we'll say damp. And again 0:36:30.800 --> 0:36:34.400 I mentioned the perforate of PVC pipes that can help it. 0:36:34.480 --> 0:36:36.880 Says you can avoid turning it by having those pipes. 0:36:37.040 --> 0:36:38.120 I would still turn it. 0:36:38.200 --> 0:36:39.799 I would too, just to mix it up right. 0:36:39.960 --> 0:36:43.200 Yeah, but putting PVC pipes throughout your pile would make 0:36:43.239 --> 0:36:44.520 it really difficult to turn. 0:36:44.640 --> 0:36:47.479 So well, you can pull them out, I guess you could, 0:36:47.520 --> 0:36:47.759 you know. 0:36:47.800 --> 0:36:49.279 But getting them back in is a real pain. 0:36:49.960 --> 0:36:50.839 You can stick them back in. 0:36:52.360 --> 0:36:55.080 Another way to get to introduce oxygen is earthworms. 0:36:55.239 --> 0:36:58.200 Oh man, this is where I go crazy. Oh yeah, 0:36:58.400 --> 0:37:01.320 we have a lot of worms on our property, just 0:37:01.360 --> 0:37:04.280 because there's a lot of worms in Georgia. Yeah. 0:37:04.320 --> 0:37:06.680 We did a great episode on earthworms, remember. 0:37:06.480 --> 0:37:09.759 Yeah, And every time I find them, I pick them up, 0:37:10.520 --> 0:37:14.399 I show them to Emily and she immediately says, throw 0:37:14.440 --> 0:37:17.239 it in the garden. You know. And that's because we 0:37:17.239 --> 0:37:19.120 weren't composting heavily. Now it's going to be throwing in 0:37:19.120 --> 0:37:19.839 the compost pile. 0:37:19.920 --> 0:37:20.280 Sure. 0:37:20.480 --> 0:37:22.719 But these guys are great because they naturally I mean, 0:37:22.719 --> 0:37:23.840 they do a lot of things, but one of the 0:37:23.880 --> 0:37:26.359 things they do is naturally airrate by just tunneling through 0:37:26.400 --> 0:37:26.960 that stuff. 0:37:27.200 --> 0:37:31.480 Yeah. So earthworms and then worms in general are probably 0:37:31.520 --> 0:37:38.560 the most important non microscopic resident in your compost pile. Yeah, 0:37:38.719 --> 0:37:42.640 because they do so much. So worms and especially earthworms 0:37:42.640 --> 0:37:47.000 and most types of nematodes, they actually go in and 0:37:47.000 --> 0:37:50.000 like eat a lot of the stuff that's in the 0:37:50.000 --> 0:37:52.279 compost pile, a lot of the food waste, right or 0:37:52.640 --> 0:37:55.840 organic waste, and in doing so they break it down, 0:37:56.320 --> 0:37:58.880 and as they break it down, they make it easier 0:37:59.360 --> 0:38:03.640 for the microbes to digest themselves. Should we start with 0:38:03.640 --> 0:38:07.880 the microbes? Yeah, okay, So again this compost pile, when 0:38:07.920 --> 0:38:09.960 you add food waste to the pile and add soil, 0:38:10.120 --> 0:38:16.040 you're introducing energy source to energy consumer. Okay, yes. And 0:38:16.080 --> 0:38:20.000 at the base of this is the is microbial life, 0:38:20.680 --> 0:38:25.680 bacteria mostly, but the bacteria go to town. They start 0:38:25.719 --> 0:38:28.000 eating this stuff, and the smaller it is, the more 0:38:28.040 --> 0:38:30.239 serface area there is, the more the bacteria can eat. 0:38:30.360 --> 0:38:33.359 And they actually take the nutrients out of this and 0:38:33.480 --> 0:38:36.960 use it for cellular respiration, which is why they need oxygen, 0:38:37.120 --> 0:38:39.720 because they take oxygen and combine them with the carbon 0:38:40.120 --> 0:38:42.840 and they create atp which they use as an energy 0:38:42.880 --> 0:38:45.680 source to power their cells and live and frolic and play, 0:38:46.000 --> 0:38:49.000 and in doing so they create carbon dioxide. 0:38:49.080 --> 0:38:49.520 That's right. 0:38:50.040 --> 0:38:55.120 So as they're doing this, they're actually breaking the stuff 0:38:55.200 --> 0:38:58.640 down from what you'd recognize as a banana peel closer 0:38:58.680 --> 0:39:01.680 and closer to that finished humor miss project product. Yes, 0:39:01.800 --> 0:39:04.040 so you got bacteria and they're a big part of it. 0:39:04.080 --> 0:39:08.640 And depending on the phase that the compost pile is in, uh, 0:39:08.760 --> 0:39:11.279 the there will be different kinds of bacteria in your 0:39:11.280 --> 0:39:12.080 compost pile. 0:39:13.000 --> 0:39:16.080 Yeah, and it's not you know, just bacteria. There's a 0:39:16.120 --> 0:39:22.000 fung guy doing lots of work. We mentioned nebatodes. You're 0:39:22.040 --> 0:39:26.000 gonna eventually get mites in there, and slugs. You've already 0:39:26.000 --> 0:39:30.160 thrown your worms in. Some millipedes doing some action, right 0:39:30.280 --> 0:39:33.520 with all those cute little legs. And overall these are 0:39:33.520 --> 0:39:35.800 known as primary consumers. 0:39:35.840 --> 0:39:39.080 Some are are are all of them primary consumers? 0:39:39.320 --> 0:39:42.880 Well they're listed, okay by this person who made this 0:39:42.920 --> 0:39:43.560 fancy chart. 0:39:43.760 --> 0:39:47.200 So then above that, chuck, you've got the secondary consumers. Secondo, 0:39:47.480 --> 0:39:50.879 and those are right, those are the those are the 0:39:50.920 --> 0:39:54.920 predators of the primary consumers, right, yeah, and then you 0:39:54.960 --> 0:39:58.640 have tertiary consumers. They're the predators of the secondary consumers. 0:39:59.080 --> 0:40:00.680 And so you put all this together and what you 0:40:00.680 --> 0:40:03.440 have is a food web. If microbe is breaking the 0:40:03.480 --> 0:40:06.560 stuff down, worms and stuff doing the same thing in 0:40:06.920 --> 0:40:11.279 some ways, and then other predators, different graduated levels of 0:40:11.320 --> 0:40:15.160 predators preying on the smaller animals to keep their population 0:40:15.239 --> 0:40:17.880 in check and to keep everything in a perfect balance 0:40:18.120 --> 0:40:19.880 so that it's as efficient as possible. 0:40:20.440 --> 0:40:22.240 And eventually a great white shark comes along. 0:40:22.960 --> 0:40:26.279 What gets me, eats the whole pile thanks to a 0:40:26.360 --> 0:40:30.440 shark nade. What gets me thought, the best part of 0:40:30.520 --> 0:40:33.120 all this to me is that if you look at 0:40:33.160 --> 0:40:37.960 the lifespan of a compost pile from brand new. 0:40:37.920 --> 0:40:40.680 To finished humans, from to. 0:40:40.719 --> 0:40:43.879 Humus, Yes, it's it forms a bell as far as 0:40:43.880 --> 0:40:45.239 the temperature gradient. 0:40:44.960 --> 0:40:46.760 Goes, right, Yeah, it's really kind of cool. 0:40:46.920 --> 0:40:50.320 So the first stage is the mesophilic stage. Yeah, temperatures 0:40:50.360 --> 0:40:54.279 get up to I think forty degrees celsius. I can't 0:40:54.280 --> 0:40:55.680 remember what that is in fahrenheight. 0:40:55.960 --> 0:40:57.120 Yeah we'll go with celsius though. 0:40:57.200 --> 0:41:04.000 Okay, so it's warmish. And then as the cellular respiration 0:41:04.680 --> 0:41:08.000 mounts and builds, more more bacteria born and start eating 0:41:08.080 --> 0:41:12.279 and carry this cellular respiration out. The byproducts are CO 0:41:12.520 --> 0:41:16.520 two and heat, and heat starts to accumulate in the 0:41:16.520 --> 0:41:19.239 compost pile so much so that it gets up to 0:41:19.280 --> 0:41:22.400 something like fifty to sixty degrees celsius, which is like 0:41:22.400 --> 0:41:25.240 one hundred to one hundred and fifty degrees farrenheights. 0:41:25.360 --> 0:41:27.600 Yeah, and it's hot. At this point, your organisms are 0:41:27.600 --> 0:41:29.960 going to change. You're going to have thermophilic. These are 0:41:30.000 --> 0:41:32.919 a little heat loving critters and they move in because 0:41:32.960 --> 0:41:37.080 it's nice and warm. They're snowbirds, they're desert dwellers, and 0:41:37.120 --> 0:41:40.919 they like it when it's warm. But here's the thing 0:41:40.960 --> 0:41:43.520 is you want to like you want you don't want 0:41:43.520 --> 0:41:45.480 it to get too hot, so you want to continue 0:41:45.520 --> 0:41:48.279 to aerate and keep that temperature in check. What you 0:41:48.400 --> 0:41:51.240 want is that natural bell to happen on its own right. 0:41:51.320 --> 0:41:57.200 So the mesophilic bacteria die off or they go kind 0:41:57.200 --> 0:42:00.719 of dormant as it enters the thermophilic face, and then 0:42:00.760 --> 0:42:03.600 after the thermophilic phase ends. The reason it ends is 0:42:03.640 --> 0:42:07.279 because they've eaten up all of the stuff that's there 0:42:07.280 --> 0:42:12.000 to eat, and only the hard stuff's left over. And 0:42:12.080 --> 0:42:15.000 so the thermophiles go away, and some of the meso 0:42:15.000 --> 0:42:19.520 files come back and new stuff comes in, like ecxinemi 0:42:19.680 --> 0:42:23.960 seats ectinemi seats, which are kind of like a weird fungi, 0:42:24.040 --> 0:42:26.920 bacteria cross and they break down like the really hard 0:42:26.960 --> 0:42:30.560 woody shrubby stuff and they finish it off. And this 0:42:30.640 --> 0:42:35.200 third phase is called the curing phase. Right, And at 0:42:35.239 --> 0:42:37.640 the end of all of it, you have this great 0:42:38.320 --> 0:42:42.359 nutrient rich hummus humus. But in the middle of that, 0:42:42.400 --> 0:42:45.440 when it gets really hot, it gets so hot, chuck 0:42:45.760 --> 0:42:48.480 that pathogens that can make you sick, that can make 0:42:48.520 --> 0:42:51.760 animals sick, that can make plants sick, are actually killed 0:42:51.760 --> 0:42:54.680 off in the phase, which is why when you get 0:42:54.680 --> 0:42:58.759 your hands on compost on humus, it's organic. It's been 0:42:58.960 --> 0:43:04.640 basically treated naturally to rid itself of parasites, pathogens, all 0:43:04.680 --> 0:43:08.000 sorts of bad stuff, and all that's left is the 0:43:08.120 --> 0:43:10.880 nutrients that have been broken down in the process that 0:43:10.960 --> 0:43:14.400 a plant can use very easily. And again the circle 0:43:14.440 --> 0:43:15.680 of life starts over again. 0:43:16.000 --> 0:43:18.319 Yeah, and you know I mentioned sun earlier can dry 0:43:18.360 --> 0:43:22.080 it out, but if it gets over sixty five celsius, 0:43:22.600 --> 0:43:25.200 it's gonna kill off so many microbes. It's gonna really 0:43:25.239 --> 0:43:28.640 slow down your process. Right, So that's another reason you 0:43:28.680 --> 0:43:30.759 turn it is to kind of keep and again don't 0:43:30.760 --> 0:43:32.759 have it direct sunlight, but it's going to keep that 0:43:32.800 --> 0:43:37.520 temperature where it does its thing naturally, right where you 0:43:37.520 --> 0:43:39.400 don't want to, you know, put a heat lamp on it. 0:43:40.000 --> 0:43:41.960 I just want to keep it moist, turn it over 0:43:42.000 --> 0:43:44.640 and let it do its thing. And you might come 0:43:44.640 --> 0:43:47.560 out there on a chili morning there might be steams 0:43:47.560 --> 0:43:50.239 coming off of that sucker. And dude, that's when you 0:43:50.400 --> 0:43:53.919 just like you go hot dog, Yeah, hot diggity the hog, 0:43:54.719 --> 0:43:57.279 and you go inside and you eat a banana and 0:43:57.320 --> 0:44:00.279 you throw it on the on the pile. So when 0:44:00.320 --> 0:44:00.879 is it all over? 0:44:01.320 --> 0:44:03.840 Man? I just love this is why I love Earth's science. 0:44:04.120 --> 0:44:06.920 Yeah, it's really amazing because it's like it requires a 0:44:06.960 --> 0:44:08.880 little bit of human management, but then you kind of 0:44:08.880 --> 0:44:10.879 just step away and say, do your thing. Yeah, it's 0:44:10.880 --> 0:44:11.359 really neat. 0:44:12.320 --> 0:44:14.360 When is it over? Well, you can tell. There's a 0:44:14.360 --> 0:44:17.720 few ways of being able to tell. The temperature starts 0:44:17.760 --> 0:44:21.400 to go down. If it's below one hundred degrees fahaheight, 0:44:21.719 --> 0:44:24.880 it's out of the thermophilic phase, yes, and it's now 0:44:24.960 --> 0:44:28.400 into the mesophilic phase. This says that it's probably done. 0:44:28.480 --> 0:44:31.920 I disagree. I think you probably want it even cooler 0:44:31.960 --> 0:44:34.480 than that, because the longer you let it cure, the 0:44:34.600 --> 0:44:39.160 more diverse the microbes inside are going to be the better. 0:44:39.239 --> 0:44:41.319 The soil that you use to amend it with is 0:44:41.360 --> 0:44:44.239 going to be sure. Temperature is one. 0:44:45.360 --> 0:44:47.680 One of it is just eyeball it. And if it's 0:44:48.480 --> 0:44:51.479 if it's about fifty percent decomposed, like if you still 0:44:51.520 --> 0:44:55.160 see clearly a banana peel, then it's not done right. 0:44:55.239 --> 0:44:57.600 You don't want to recognize this stuff as food at 0:44:57.600 --> 0:45:02.919 this point, or an egg or whatever. And is it 0:45:03.000 --> 0:45:05.960 is it smaller? Is if it's been reduced by fifty 0:45:05.960 --> 0:45:09.640 to seventy five percent and it's dark brown or black 0:45:10.080 --> 0:45:13.359 and crumbly and it looks kind of like soil, then 0:45:13.400 --> 0:45:15.960 you're you're cooking with gas. As my dad used to say. 0:45:17.120 --> 0:45:20.960 The texture, did you say smooth or crumbly? 0:45:21.080 --> 0:45:21.480 Yeah? 0:45:21.520 --> 0:45:23.680 What about the smell, Well, it shouldn't. 0:45:24.160 --> 0:45:25.960 It shouldn't stink bad at this point. 0:45:26.120 --> 0:45:29.400 No, it should smell earthy. And actually one of my 0:45:29.480 --> 0:45:34.560 favorites the actinum my sights. Yeah, the actin of my seats. Okay, 0:45:35.760 --> 0:45:39.560 they are the reason that soil and dirt has its smell. 0:45:39.719 --> 0:45:42.960 It's those guys, Yeah, they give it its earthy smell. Isn't 0:45:43.000 --> 0:45:43.319 that cool? 0:45:43.440 --> 0:45:45.680 Yeah? And I think we didn't mention you know that 0:45:45.760 --> 0:45:48.640 it's doing well along the way if it stops smelling 0:45:48.680 --> 0:45:51.080 like it doesn't just stink the whole time. 0:45:51.360 --> 0:45:53.799 Right, And it's not gonna smell earthy. The soil that 0:45:53.880 --> 0:45:56.799 you add will smell earthy. But when you grab a 0:45:56.880 --> 0:46:00.000 handful of humus, it should just fall through your fingers. 0:46:00.160 --> 0:46:02.800 It should be the closer to black, the better. Yeah, 0:46:02.920 --> 0:46:07.040 and it should smell like every everything associated with earth 0:46:07.080 --> 0:46:09.680 should smell like. It's like the word earth. That's what 0:46:09.719 --> 0:46:12.840 it should smell like. Like, you'll understand what earth smells like. 0:46:13.000 --> 0:46:15.200 Yeah, they said peat moss. If you if none of 0:46:15.200 --> 0:46:16.120 this makes sense. 0:46:16.000 --> 0:46:19.120 Go to your local hardware store or lawn and garden 0:46:19.160 --> 0:46:21.200 center and smell the peat moss exactly. 0:46:22.320 --> 0:46:26.400 So, now that it's done, Yeah, you've got your wonderfully 0:46:26.600 --> 0:46:31.600 natural fertilizer. Use it. Put it, Spread it out in 0:46:31.640 --> 0:46:34.000 your garden, Spread it out around your trees, throw it 0:46:34.000 --> 0:46:34.880 in your yard. 0:46:34.760 --> 0:46:37.319 Spread it around your naked body, and run around your 0:46:37.400 --> 0:46:41.279 yard if you want to. It's got a doobie pile, 0:46:41.320 --> 0:46:45.200 will make it do or quack grass. 0:46:46.080 --> 0:46:51.560 Yeah, stay away from that stuff. It's basically like the 0:46:51.640 --> 0:46:54.120 easiest way to put it without getting too scientific, is 0:46:54.200 --> 0:46:56.480 it's going to make everything better. Right, It's going to 0:46:56.560 --> 0:47:00.360 increase soil microbes, it's going to increase nutrients and enhance them. 0:47:00.640 --> 0:47:04.359 It's going to improve the pH and chemistry of your soil. 0:47:04.480 --> 0:47:07.759 Your yard. It's going to structure and again, like what 0:47:07.800 --> 0:47:10.760 you've just done is taken stuff and had it broken 0:47:10.760 --> 0:47:14.359 down into its components, unlocked it for your plants to use. 0:47:14.840 --> 0:47:17.160 So your plants are going to say thank you brother. 0:47:17.680 --> 0:47:18.400 Pretty amazing. 0:47:18.480 --> 0:47:18.719 Yep. 0:47:19.320 --> 0:47:21.840 Uh. Some people create a lot of it and sell it, 0:47:21.880 --> 0:47:24.520 but you know, mainly people do this to just use 0:47:24.560 --> 0:47:25.160 around their house. 0:47:25.280 --> 0:47:29.400 Yeah, and increasingly towns are starting to do curbside composting. 0:47:29.440 --> 0:47:33.239 Pickup food waste, pickup neat where you got trash, recycling 0:47:33.320 --> 0:47:36.240 bin food waste, banana PILs, banana piels. 0:47:36.320 --> 0:47:40.320 Right, that's it, all right, go forth and composts. 0:47:40.400 --> 0:47:42.920 Yeah, if you want to know more about composting, you 0:47:42.960 --> 0:47:44.640 can type that word in the search bar at housetif 0:47:44.680 --> 0:47:47.800 works dot com. Cornell actually also has a really great 0:47:47.800 --> 0:47:50.000 site about composting if you want to know more about 0:47:50.040 --> 0:47:50.799 the science of it. 0:47:50.920 --> 0:47:51.959 You were very excited about. 0:47:51.960 --> 0:47:55.399 I love that site. And since I said Cornell, it's 0:47:55.440 --> 0:47:56.680 time for the listener mail. 0:47:59.120 --> 0:48:02.680 I'm gonna call this wild life specialists. We had a 0:48:02.719 --> 0:48:03.520 couple of these that wrote in. 0:48:03.560 --> 0:48:06.600 Remember we talked about this in the Pain Scale EPs. 0:48:07.000 --> 0:48:08.520 And we kind of surmise what it was, and we 0:48:08.680 --> 0:48:10.560 turns out we were right. And by the way, we 0:48:10.640 --> 0:48:15.560 heard from paramedics doctors quite a few people about the 0:48:15.600 --> 0:48:16.160 worst pain. 0:48:16.560 --> 0:48:18.520 Yeah, you don't want a long bone fracture. 0:48:18.719 --> 0:48:21.440 Yeah, almost one hundred percent of them said of broken 0:48:21.480 --> 0:48:24.040 femur is like the worst pain you can experience. 0:48:24.160 --> 0:48:25.200 And should we say why? 0:48:25.760 --> 0:48:28.440 Yeah, go ahead, So several reasons, Right. 0:48:28.320 --> 0:48:31.160 We are right because apparently it's a very sensitive area, 0:48:31.640 --> 0:48:37.600 but also because without that structure, your muscles start spasming, right, 0:48:37.719 --> 0:48:40.600 which just rocks the whole thing back and forth even more. 0:48:41.080 --> 0:48:44.600 And then then like fragmented bone hitting nerve and all 0:48:44.680 --> 0:48:45.520 kinds of badness. 0:48:45.640 --> 0:48:48.879 Yeah, who, So steer clear of that. 0:48:49.760 --> 0:48:53.719 All right? So we heard from from two. I'm going 0:48:53.760 --> 0:48:55.200 to read the one, but I'm going to shout them 0:48:55.200 --> 0:48:57.359 both out. Hey, guys, very excited to hear you mentioned 0:48:57.400 --> 0:49:00.680 childlife specialists during your recent episode on Pain Scales. As 0:49:00.719 --> 0:49:03.160 a child life specialist myself, I thought would take the 0:49:03.200 --> 0:49:05.280 opportunity to tell you a little bit about our profession, 0:49:05.560 --> 0:49:09.319 you are right, Chuck, a child life specialist is we 0:49:09.400 --> 0:49:13.200 help kids deal with being hospitalized. That's really the essence 0:49:13.200 --> 0:49:16.400 of our job. We support children and families throughout stressful 0:49:16.440 --> 0:49:20.800 situations such as hospitalizations, using our knowledge of child development 0:49:20.840 --> 0:49:26.160 and play to facilitate coping. Child life specialists provide children 0:49:26.239 --> 0:49:30.719 with developmentally appropriate education about diagnoses and treatments, preparation and 0:49:30.719 --> 0:49:36.120 support for procedures and opportunities for normalization and play. What 0:49:36.200 --> 0:49:36.879 a great job. 0:49:37.000 --> 0:49:39.440 Seriously, I can't think of too many jobs that are 0:49:39.480 --> 0:49:40.480 more rewarding than that. 0:49:40.680 --> 0:49:44.800 Seriously. We also provide support for siblings and provide legacy 0:49:44.800 --> 0:49:48.560 building and memory making and end of life situations. Our 0:49:48.600 --> 0:49:52.880 profession is very rewarding. Josh, you are right. She predicted 0:49:52.880 --> 0:49:55.200 that you would say that, and I love going to 0:49:55.200 --> 0:49:58.840 work every day. To become a CLS, you must have 0:49:58.880 --> 0:50:02.360 a bachelor's or master's child development or a related field, 0:50:02.840 --> 0:50:08.000 complete a six hundred and forty hour childlife internship, and 0:50:08.040 --> 0:50:13.160 pass the National Certification Exam. You can visit www dot 0:50:13.280 --> 0:50:17.759 childlife dot org to learn more about it. Thanks for 0:50:17.800 --> 0:50:19.600 what you guys do. You've made all my road trips 0:50:19.800 --> 0:50:22.960 interesting and thanks for spreading the word about childlife. Maybe 0:50:22.960 --> 0:50:25.600 you can do entire episode on our profession in the 0:50:25.600 --> 0:50:30.560 future if she said pease okay, And that is Natalie Valentine. 0:50:30.600 --> 0:50:33.359 And also a big shout out to Amanda Butler from 0:50:33.360 --> 0:50:37.760 Auburn University who does that there. Thanks for writing in Ladies, 0:50:37.760 --> 0:50:41.000 it sounds like just a really, really great job. 0:50:41.120 --> 0:50:43.279 Yeah, thanks to you both for that, and thanks for 0:50:43.320 --> 0:50:46.520 everybody who has anything to do with making kids who 0:50:46.520 --> 0:50:50.759 are hospitalized feel better. Hats off to you. If you 0:50:50.800 --> 0:50:53.640 want to get in touch with us, you can tweet 0:50:53.680 --> 0:50:57.120 to us at SYSK podcast or Josham Clark. You can 0:50:57.200 --> 0:51:00.600 hang out with us on Facebook dot com, slash stuff 0:51:00.600 --> 0:51:03.279 you Should Know or slash Charles W. Chuck Bryant. You 0:51:03.320 --> 0:51:06.359 can send us an email to Stuff Podcast at HowStuffWorks 0:51:06.360 --> 0:51:08.560 dot com and has always joined us at our home 0:51:08.600 --> 0:51:15.920 on the web, stuff you Should Know dot com. 0:51:16.040 --> 0:51:18.560 For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 0:51:18.600 --> 0:51:27.279 HowStuffWorks dot com.