Composting with Copper

This post is sponsored by Sertodo Copper. All opinions are 100% our own. Thank you for supporting the brands we truly love!

Since starting our hobby farm, we have been working towards making our homestead more self sufficient. We have natural compost readily available from our farm animals, but we loved the idea of recycling food and other organic waste into compost as well. As part of my graduate assistantship, I've been doing a lot of research on food waste, waste management, and organic farming. I love how compost provides a range of environmental benefits, including improving soil health, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, recycling nutrients, and mitigating the impacting of droughts. 

After I received this beautiful copper compost canister from Sertodo Copper, I knew it was time to build our outdoor compost bin!

I love all things copper and this canister is such an attractive option for our farmhouse kitchen! It is easy to clean and it doesn't take up much counter space which is an added bonus.

Here are a few other benefits of copper:

• Copper has natural antibacterial qualities and has been used for composting and drinking water for millennia.
• Composting is a natural process of decomposition of organic materials by microorganisms and invertebrates.

Sweet corn is a favorite summer treat here in Southern Illinois and in the photos below you can see how much the canister holds. The lid is air tight so there is no smell.

Turning our yard debris and kitchen waste into compost will help us reduce our carbon footprint by developing our own nutrient-rich soil amendments for our garden and flower beds. Compost also helps to reduce the amount of garbage that goes into landfills.

To begin our composting process, we put together a DIY style compost bin made from wood pallets we already had on hand. You may be able to find free pallets available in your area. I would recommend checking with your local tractor supply stores. Ours is currently a simple three sided design, but we may add a front gate as time goes on. 

The process of composting is really simple! Once we dump scraps and coffee grounds from our copper compost canister into our bin, we will mix the material, add water, and as the materials heat up they will begin to breakdown into rich soil. 

As you can see, I had a special helper while assembling the compost area! Did you know that pig manure is an excellent fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other nutrients? It also adds organic matter to the soil which may improve soil structure, aeration, soil moisture-holding capacity, and water infiltration!