By James Day
Sometimes the best way to teach somebody how to do something is to just plain show them how to do it.
That was how Steve and Alyson Budde put across their message on composting at a Sustainable Silverton “Tools for Adaptation” event at The Oregon Garden.
The Buddes set up a table underneath the deck of the fire safety house and mesmerized a crowd of about 20 participants and one reporter. Yes, composting can be mesmerizing.
They had a cylindrical chicken wire enclosure to start with leaves and then a series of plastic trays from which to add “green” and “brown” items. Rake, repeat and watch worms start doing the dirty work.
In an email interview the Buddes explained their process to Our Town.
Alyson: The landscape wire container is how we start a compost pile. We can make it any size we want, which is usually four to five feet across. We start with a couple shovels of existing soil and some good compost, then layer in green and brown three to five inches thick each. One tray had grass clippings (green) and one had dried leaves (brown). Then, we dig in kitchen waste (and cover it). Water, air and time help create the finished compost (the third tray).
Our Town: What started you down this path?
Alyson: “We’ve always gardened organically as a way to produce healthy food for our family. We tore up the front lawn of our Southern California tract house in 1998 and planted vegetables. There, we dug kitchen waste directly into the garden, which is a kind of composting. We’ve had compost piles on our current (Silverton) property since 2012. Following intense damage from the ice storm and heat dome, we began the soil regeneration project in June 2021 as a way to deal with PTSD by taking action.”
Steve: “Many years ago I became concerned about the prevalence of toxins in the soil and water… and the fact that commercial farming has a limited life span on the Earth…. Composting seemed like a really good way to use waste and improve soils.
Growing food and other plants the way we do is nurturing and sustainable for us and for the planet.”
The Buddes have a “try things” sapproach to innovation and extol the use of cardboard in their work. Cardboard? Yes, cardboard.
Alyson: “We used cardboard from boxes, laying it flat over the grass we planned to convert to garden bed. Then, we covered the cardboard with three to four inches of soil/compost mix to provide nutrients and make the area look like a garden bed. We cut small holes in the cardboard and weeded those areas in order to plant some foundational shrubs. That was two years ago. This spring, there is very little cardboard left and few weeds. A bonus is that nightcrawlers love cardboard. They congregate underneath it. The grass died, and now it is all black, healthy soil.”
Our Town: Any advice that you have for others just getting started with composting?
Alyson: “Don’t hesitate. Reading about composting can be confusing when authors prescribe an exact ratio of green to brown. When we finally let that go, we just started making it, and every year we get more, better compost. Steve has perfected a 60-day pile… We’re careful what we put into the pile because we don’t use pesticides or herbicides… We only use what falls on our property, but it took a few years to get to this point.
Steve: “Don’t overthink it. Don’t get caught up in how many worms or how hot it is. Just keep throwing stuff in there and see what you get. You really can’t go wrong.”
TO LEARN MORE
Steve and Alyson Budde’s recommended resources:
Trees and Shrubs for Pacific Northwest Gardens by John A. & Carol L. Grant
The Ann Lovejoy Handbook of Northwest Gardening: Natural-Sustainable-Organic by Ann Lovejoy
(available at Silver Falls Library)
The Complete Compost Gardening Guide by Barbara Pleasant & Deborah L. Martin
www.soilfoodweb.com
(for education on healthy soil)
www.soilsoup.com (for aerated liquid compost products)
