WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 [Jennifer Good] Hey, this is Jennifer Good. I'm an officer of ECO, a club on campus 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:07.000 and I'm talking to you today about composting. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:12.000 Luckily enough, at UTD we have on-campus apartment composting 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:13.000 along within the dining hall. 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:15.000 But I'm going to tell you more about how it really works 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:17.000 and the different options you have. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:23.000 So first, the more common one that most people know about --and kind of how this works-- is hot composting. 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:30.000 So that's where you put all your different food scraps and natural materials 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.000 into it and then you normally mix it around 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:35.000 and the decomposition heats it up 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:36.000 and that's how it all breaks down. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.000 But there's also worm composting, 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:44.000 which is where worms go in and feed off the decomposing material 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:45.000 --but it can't get too hot. 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.000 And I know about this because I work at 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.000 Texas Worm Ranch, a worm composting facility. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:55.000 So to start off right here you can see an at-home hot composting system. 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.000 Just a pile of compost --or you can put your extra food waste 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:00.000 and tea leaves and coffee grounds-- things like that. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.000 And you can see the stick is here to help mix it around, 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:08.000 because you want to mix hot compost to move the decomposition 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.000 and get it all kind of mixed together, 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.500 because you want a balance of nitrogen and carbon, 00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:16.000 where nitrogen comes from your food waste 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:20.000 and carbon comes from all the leaves and twigs that you can see in here. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.000 And that will keep it from smelling and getting a lot of bugs as well. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:28.000 So now we are looking at a worm composting system 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:31.000 and one of the first differences you see is the newspaper on top, 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:35.000 which is a layer of carbon that can decompose into the soil 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:38.000 and protect it from the outside elements. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.000 And then below that is where you put the food waste, 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.000 but it's only a few handfuls a week 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.000 it's usually what we recommend, depending on the size. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.000 You just don't want too much 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:50.000 because as the food decomposes the worms feed off of it, 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.000 and if you get too much it will get just stinky and buggy. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:55.000 And you can see all the worms right there in the soil. 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:58.500 To keep these worms alive, the system has to only have 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:01.000 a little bit of food waste and be inside 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.000 because otherwise the worms will get too hot. 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:05.000 It has to be below 85 degrees or so. 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:11.000 The end result of worm composting is worm castings or vermaculture, 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:15.000 which is technically worm poop, but that is the nutrient-rich soil 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:17.000 that you want to have in your garden. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:19.000 Now this is the castings under the microscope, 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:23.000 so you can see the variety of microorganisms living in the soil. 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:28.000 So the little round but clear forms are amoebas, 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.000 which are nutrient cyclers, 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.000 and all the tiny little round circles are bacteria, 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:35.500 which you don't want too much of. 00:02:35.500 --> 00:02:37.000 You want a balance of other creatures. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:43.000 This long rod here is fungi and that's really important for plant growth. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:48.000 Overall, you want the abundance and variety of life that worm composting provides. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:53.000 To get your good compost from either worm compost or hot compost, 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:55.000 you need to have it be settled for a while. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.000 In the case of worm composting, in this video you can see 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:01.000 what you get from the bottom, 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:04.000 so it's what's been processed the most from the worms, 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.000 and it's really just the castings that are mostly left, 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:12.000 while in hot composting you would leave half of your pile alone, 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:17.000 and then take out the good soil comes out after about a month or so. 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:22.000 Warm composting of their hand should be harvested about every 8 to 12 weeks. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.000 So it does take longer. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.000 So the next step is to put your castings in your garden. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:30.000 So here's a handful of it. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:33.000 It's fine particulate. They want to be moist enough to hold its shape 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:35.500 like you can see right here, but also be able to break apart, 00:03:35.500 --> 00:03:38.000 so right on the edge of moisture. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:41.000 And so you go ahead and put it just on top of your soil in your garden 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:45.000 and spread it around, and then once you're done with that, 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.000 you'll end up putting mulch or paper --something on top to protect it 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:52.000 and let the microorganism seep into the soil. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.000 Once you've given the casting some time, 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.000 weeks, maybe even months, sitting in your soil, 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:02.000 it'll make your plants grow bigger and better than ever before 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.500 and make you able to grow your own produce, 00:04:04.500 --> 00:04:08.000 and then that can feed back into the whole system. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:12.000 That's what sustainability is all about, trying to close loops. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.000 Composting is one way where you can grow your own food 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:17.000 and then put it back into the system. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:21.000 So now y'all have seen the whole process of composting. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:25.000 It goes from your natural food scraps to decomposition, 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:30.000 then to worms --or not-- and then that goes to microorganisms, 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.000 and that goes back into your soil and that creates healthy produce 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:36.000 and plants for you to eat in the future. 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:40.000 Thanks for learning about composting with me 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.000 and I hope this inspires you to get started. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:45.000 [Lively Music]