Let's Make Dirt!

The PA Women's Agriculture Network hosted a conference at The Rodale Institute called Women Mentoring Women: Sustaining Pennsylvania's Female Farmers. Theresa and I attended, and it was a really neat day. We got to tour the Institute and see some of the experiments going on there. The Rodale Institute (http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/) is researching methods of organic production in a twenty year Farming Systems Trial compairing organic and conventional methods of production.

The Rodale Institute has been influential in promoting active composting. Composting is the decaying process whereby organic materials are transposed into a rich humus soil by microbes and insects. Compost can be used to help revitalize soil that has been overfarmed. As part of the lecture series, we reviewed the basics of composting and received Earth Builders, backyard composters. Of course we won't be making 200 ft rows of compost, but we have to start somewhere. We also got to see the Rodale Institute's compost turner in action.

A composting tip - if you are wondering if your compost is finished, try the ziploc test. Put a shovelful of compost in a ziploc bag and leave it for 24 hours. When you come back, if it smells like earth, your compost is finished. If it smells bad or like sulphur, back to the pile!