How do you turn food scraps or garden waste into something useful?

[SS Project Manager]

Every kitchen and garden produces waste—but what if that "waste" is actually a valuable resource? From composting and vermiculture to creative upcycling and homemade fertilizers, there are countless ways to give food scraps and garden waste a second life. Do you have a favorite method for reducing waste and maximizing what you grow?

Whether it’s turning veggie peels into broth, using eggshells in the garden, or finding innovative ways to repurpose leftovers, share your best tips and tricks for making the most of every bit!

 

[Mini Horses]

Most of mine goes to chickens or cats. Even coffee grounds are repurposed. Once I've used food from raw/grown to savory eating, broths, etc, balance is fed out. Excess garden veggies to animals, etc. Minimal waste for trash here. Even excess milk from goats is made into cheese or soaps, or fed to animals...be it bottle kids, cats, chickens or pigs when any being fed out.

Bedding, hay waste, manures, that goes back to garden &/or pastures. A continual recycling system.

I believe that's true at most farms.

 

[R2elk]

I bury compostables in the garden. It is too dry here to get away with a compost pile. Buried organic materials decompose rapidly.

 

[flowerbug]

i keep buckets of worms indoors for all cooking scraps other than a lot of fatty stuff which we don't have very often at all. even cooked bones i'll put in the worm buckets to let them finish it off and then when i take the buckets out to use them in the gardens they all get buried and eventually fall apart.

the worm buckets also take care of all the shredded paper - i just have to make sure there isn't any plastic mixed in that sometimes comes with envelopes or labels. if i have extra shredded paper i put that out in the gardens in the trenches i put down for the worm buckets.

when Mom was cooking a lot more i was keeping 17 buckets of worms - i'm now down to 7 buckets and that is working out ok.

 

[Achin'Acres]

i keep buckets of worms indoors

when Mom was cooking a lot more i was keeping 17 buckets of worms - i'm now down to 7 buckets and that is working out ok.

When you dump the bucket you hold back a handful of worms, right? To restart the process, otherwise you're getting rid of all the worms which I understand - is not what you're getting at.
I'm learning, so forgive the questions.

 

[flowerbug]

When you dump the bucket you hold back a handful of worms, right? To restart the process, otherwise you're getting rid of all the worms which I understand - is not what you're getting at.
I'm learning, so forgive the questions.

i keep several buckets back so i have worms i can use to restart the buckets (it was much easier when i had 17 buckets than 7).

the main mistakes i have made in keeping worms is changing the soil chemistry too quickly. worms won't like that and many will die off - the only ones that will adapt if they survive at all are the very young ones or those that haven't come out of their cocoons yet.

i bring a little of the garden soil back in with each bucket so i am recharging and reconditioning it besides i need some garden soil for some worm species that aren't so organic material oriented (the red wrigglers live up top and the other worms are down deeper - some worms don't care and will do it all and some worms like our common night crawler are not geared for small bucket life and should be left outside).

questions are great! i love talking about worms.

here are a few pages from my website that talk about worms and how i manage food scraps and few fun things:

Worms | Anthive

Worms, worm keeping, food scrap prep and breakdown...

www.anthive.com

Potatoes | Anthive

Funny things about potato peels...

www.anthive.com