Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Dealing with Organic Waste
We are in the process of setting up a complete organic waste treatment system. When it's all up and running, if we use it systematically there should be absolutely no organic waste leaving our house for the landfill. Here's a brief rundown on the components.
1. Rabbits.
The rabbits are fussiest eaters, so come first in the system. They can eat most green leafy vegetables, with the exception of green lettuce, so they get the stems and tough old leaves from spinach, Asian vegetables, and green herbs like parsley and basil. They also get broccoli and cauliflower stems, as well as carrots and carrot tops, Brussels sprouts, cabbage etc. They can have some fruit, like grapes, apples and oranges. (They also get fed rabbit pellets and lucerne mix).
2. Rats.
They don't need to eat very much, but our two rats get the pick of table scraps after dinner. They also like small amounts of leftover cereal, bread, hummus, etc, left over from the toddler's mini-meals. Feeding them raw vegetables is a bit pick and miss so I don't bother, it's easier than remembering whether they can have raw Brussels sprouts (no, it contains an enzyme which destroys thiamin) or tomato (yes, but they don't like it). They love cooked chicken bones, although they can't finish off very much - but then I got a new stock pot for Christmas, so if I can keep the carcass away from the cat long enough to put it in the fridge, I can make stock instead!
3. Chickens.
They get the rest of the table scraps, as well as some of the vegetable peelings, like pumpkin, and any other edible byproduct from cooking which doesn't go to one of the above. Also stale bread and crackers, pasta, rice, etc. We stringently avoid feeding them chicken meat or eggs (but if a chook was suffering from Mad Chicken Disease, how would one tell?).
4. Worm Farm.
When we get this up and running, this will take all the inedible bits of fruit and vegetable preparation, like potato and sweet potato peelings, mango and banana skins, avocado and watermelon rinds, apple and capsicum cores, etc. They can also process small amounts of paper and cardboard, mostly anything which is too dirty to go into the recycling.
5. Mealworms.
Only an incidental contributor to the system (we are raising them for RSPCA Wildlife, where they will eventually go to feed wild birds), but they can eat a few strips of banana peel, potato peelings, or apple. They also like lettuce or other green leafies. Mostly this is just to give them moisture, since they live on oatmeal and bran.
6. Bokashi Bucket.
My big Christmas present this year :-) The Bokashi Bucket takes just about everything else (except liquids). Bread, tissues, dead flowers, teabags and coffee grounds, cheese, meat and fish (cooked or uncooked), and the orange peel and onion scraps which the worms won't touch.
I've tried having a compost tumbler in the back yard, but we can never be bothered taking scraps out so it simply hasn't worked to cut down on the amount of organic waste going to landfill. Feeding interesting things like chickens or rabbits is much more of an incentive to get outside (plus I can happily delegate the job to my kids *g*). The worm farm is going just outside the back door, and the Bokashi bucket can go right in the kitchen itself, so cuts down on the disincentive of having to trek halfway across the back yard. I am hoping that this system will be pretty much self-sustaining in the long term.
1. Rabbits.
The rabbits are fussiest eaters, so come first in the system. They can eat most green leafy vegetables, with the exception of green lettuce, so they get the stems and tough old leaves from spinach, Asian vegetables, and green herbs like parsley and basil. They also get broccoli and cauliflower stems, as well as carrots and carrot tops, Brussels sprouts, cabbage etc. They can have some fruit, like grapes, apples and oranges. (They also get fed rabbit pellets and lucerne mix).
2. Rats.
They don't need to eat very much, but our two rats get the pick of table scraps after dinner. They also like small amounts of leftover cereal, bread, hummus, etc, left over from the toddler's mini-meals. Feeding them raw vegetables is a bit pick and miss so I don't bother, it's easier than remembering whether they can have raw Brussels sprouts (no, it contains an enzyme which destroys thiamin) or tomato (yes, but they don't like it). They love cooked chicken bones, although they can't finish off very much - but then I got a new stock pot for Christmas, so if I can keep the carcass away from the cat long enough to put it in the fridge, I can make stock instead!
3. Chickens.
They get the rest of the table scraps, as well as some of the vegetable peelings, like pumpkin, and any other edible byproduct from cooking which doesn't go to one of the above. Also stale bread and crackers, pasta, rice, etc. We stringently avoid feeding them chicken meat or eggs (but if a chook was suffering from Mad Chicken Disease, how would one tell?).
4. Worm Farm.
When we get this up and running, this will take all the inedible bits of fruit and vegetable preparation, like potato and sweet potato peelings, mango and banana skins, avocado and watermelon rinds, apple and capsicum cores, etc. They can also process small amounts of paper and cardboard, mostly anything which is too dirty to go into the recycling.
5. Mealworms.
Only an incidental contributor to the system (we are raising them for RSPCA Wildlife, where they will eventually go to feed wild birds), but they can eat a few strips of banana peel, potato peelings, or apple. They also like lettuce or other green leafies. Mostly this is just to give them moisture, since they live on oatmeal and bran.
6. Bokashi Bucket.
My big Christmas present this year :-) The Bokashi Bucket takes just about everything else (except liquids). Bread, tissues, dead flowers, teabags and coffee grounds, cheese, meat and fish (cooked or uncooked), and the orange peel and onion scraps which the worms won't touch.
I've tried having a compost tumbler in the back yard, but we can never be bothered taking scraps out so it simply hasn't worked to cut down on the amount of organic waste going to landfill. Feeding interesting things like chickens or rabbits is much more of an incentive to get outside (plus I can happily delegate the job to my kids *g*). The worm farm is going just outside the back door, and the Bokashi bucket can go right in the kitchen itself, so cuts down on the disincentive of having to trek halfway across the back yard. I am hoping that this system will be pretty much self-sustaining in the long term.
# posted by Liz @ 12:27 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
Wow ~ I SO appreciate this post. We are walking in this direction, following ever-empathetic Jake and his love and protection for the earth. He is learning about composting now and I am going to pass your post onto him. Thank you!!
Post a Comment
<< Home
