Composing Your Compost
In her post entitled Thermomix is the gardener’s best friend!, the ever-clever Helene of SuperKitchenMachine.com shows those of us with “a green thumb” (USA), “green fingers” (UK) or “a green hand” (France) how to accelerate the composting process with the aid of – you guessed it – our trusty friend the Thermomix. The idea is so clever yet so simple, I really wish I had thought of it myself.
Helene’s idea is so brilliant, John and I just had to try it for ourselves. John had peeled and cut up a whole pineapple into luscious juicy chunks for breakfast that morning and we were left with the tough outer skin and all the leaves.
From experience these take several months to decompose so we jumped at the chance to get ahead. In addition, this year we planted a massive 17 tubs of various leftover supermarket potatoes which had sprouted in the cupboard. They’re now at the stage where they need “earthing up” and I can think of nothing nicer to use for this than our own compost. And it will certainly be cheaper than buying bags at the garden centre, too!
So John chopped the pineapple scraps up a bit and we blitzed them in the Thermomix according to Helene’s instructions. Gradually working up to Speed 10, I used the Thermomix spatula to churn the mixture and get all the bits exposed to the blade so it can reach them and chop them. Please take a look at Helene’s blog post for full instructions and lots of other insights, too.
Voilà! A wonderful green slurry to tip onto our compost heap.
Many thanks Helene for yet another way to get the most out of Thermomix – and save money, too!
Bon appétit with all the vegetables you grow with your home-produced compost!
Update: 8th May 2011
My Easter bouquet is showing the signs of its age. I usually just throw dead bouquets onto the compost heap, but hey – the opportunity to really put into practice what I’m preaching is too good to pass up. As in the photos below, I went from bouquet to bucket in two easy steps with my trusty Thermomix. I cut the flowers and woody-stemmed greens into shorter lengths and whazzed the whole bowl of stuff into beautiful green gunk in a matter of seconds. No longer will I be forced to watch the slow process of decomposition in my compost bin. I shall soon have brown gold to fertilise my vegetable garden, this year instead of next. Thanks again, Helene!
Image credits: Green Thumb from http://thepfluegerway.blogspot.com/2011/04/30-day-challenge-day-22.html Green Fingers from http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theteacher/2009/03/090409_teacher_colour_green.shtml Green Hand from http://www.bizgi.com/site/index.php/component/content/article/36-french-expression/51-avoir-la-main-verte
Aw, shucks, Helene! Thanks for your kind words but mostly thanks for your inspiration and all the work you do to inform the greater Thermomix community – both Thermomix owners and potential owners.
I will continue to process my kitchen scraps as well as my spent bouquets so that I get better at controlling the speed and time elements of this very green application of Thermomix. Thanks for sharing yet another reason that Thermomix is My Best Friend in the Kitchen!
Thanks for the lovely mention of my blog and post Madame!
I love your From Bouquet to Bucket idea. I bet it felt great to process that lovely expired bunch of flowers! Once we start using Thermomix to help with garden composting, we are instantly hooked and the compost benefits greatly. I think we should also note here that even though Thermomix is a super powerful tool for helping speed up composting, it important to adjust the speed and processing time depending on specific ingredients of each batch. It is easy to over-process, and if this happens, it is important to balance the compost with air and brown ingredients to avoid ending up with slimy mess. This can be as easy as tossing in extra leaves or straw for example.
Your blog is a treasure and I always find so much more here than expected. Thanks for your time and dedication to sharing Thermomix ideas online in such an entertaining way!