Think to yourself how many times a day you meet your chopping board to make some food with veggies or fruits and have so much Food Waste-It all starts from this moment
Imagine to yourself how much of your fruits and veggies you actually eat? what do you usually do with the rest of it? If the answer is – “I just throw them to the bin” then this post is especially for you. It is also relevant for the ones who want to get more tips to help them reduce their food waste and get closer to a zero-waste living.
We are going to share with you here two very simple actions you can make to benefit your garden and your own lifestyle, Hope it will help you all get the relevant information for you to make these changes and manage your waste better.
The first method we really like and is very common but sometimes we don’t really know how to make it effective and then we just give up is COMPOST . It means to use the things in your refrigerator that are a little past their prime, or using the food scraps into the compost pile\bin, by doing that you help yourself reduce your food waste and the plants you grow in your garden to thrive. You can add into your compost bin also fruit scraps, vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, dry leaves and chopped wood and bark chips, compostable wraps and packaging, grass and plant clippings and more! Avoid adding to your compost pile meat, bones, banana peels, peach peels, and orange rinds as it may contain pesticide, fish scraps, residue and pet manures.
So how do we start Reusing our Food Waste?
- Start by making your compost pile on the ground so the worms and other necessary organisms can aerate the pile and start to break it down.
- Make some air to drain and aerate the pile with straw and branches.
- Add compost materials in layers, alternating between moist and dry. Moist ingredients(food scraps, seaweed etc.). Dry materials(straw, leaves, sawdust pellets).
- Add manure, green manure or any nitrogen source such as flowers, cuttings, green comfrey leaves, seaweed, kelp and more. It helps to speed the process along.
- Water your compost to keep it moist- make sure it is not soaked and sodden.
- Using wood, plastic sheeting, carpet scraps helps to retain moisture and heat- two essentials for compost.
- Once in a while give the pile a quick shuffle with a pitchfork or shovel by doing that you add more oxygen which is required for the process to work. To make the pile bigger you can add new materials by mixing them in.
The second method comes usually after your compost pile is ready but its not really needed- it is only depends on you.
Growing Plants From Your Waste
Chopping
When you finish chopping your salad pick up the herbs you have added to your salad inside a cup and fill it up so the roots are covered by the water- leave it there for about a day or two (make sure that the water is clear so the plants won’t die). Finally you can take the cup with the herbs outside to your garden and by using your composter you can make the soil rich with nutrition to help your new plants to grow healthy.
Seedling
By the time the herbs become bigger and it has more branches you can start gently cut some branches (start with a small amount) put it inside a tiny cup this time so the branch won’t drown and let it sit for a couple of days, make sure the water remains quite clean, if not replace it. It is important to put it near the window where it’s sunny but not too much.
New Plant
Basically until you start to see the roots coming out – let it sit there until the tiny plant becomes stronger and before you plant the new plant make sure it’s in a good environment for it to survive and there is no fight for nutrition and water with other plants. Keep the process going on and on so you can slowly make your food more organic and natural and yours – enjoy the process.
“Studies reported a wide range of health outcomes, such as reductions in depression, anxiety, and body mass index, as well as increases in life satisfaction, quality of life, and sense of community”. pubmed.gov
Root Vegtable
Planting root vegetables The moment you chop the veggies to make food- get the root vegetables and cut the bottom of them leave them on the side and put the bottom of them inside a cup (just the bottom) for a couple of days until you start to see the roots coming out and many times you will see first some branches coming out. Go to your veggie garden, dig a hole and put them in a separate bucket so the can grow healthy without fighting on resources. You can use your compost.
Fruits
Planting fruits With fruits we use the seeds – lets say a tomato, take a couple of its tiny seeds and put them on top of a cotton ball on a plate in a room temperature and put some water on it so it will get wet, make sure you are not making the seeds to sink. Let it sit there and make sure there is water and sun for the seeds, this process might take longer so just be patient, let them grow until you start to see tiny leaves and branches growing. Let it become a bit bigger and then take it out to your garden and plant it. It is important to plant them in a separate areas so there is no fight for nutrition, soil and water.
Let us know how your garden is thriving! Take care and b-eco!
References: PUBMED-Gardening is beneficial for health click here
