Green + Brown = Black Gold

No, that's not the recipe listed on the back of the food coloring box, play dough box or artist's color wheel. Green + Brown = Black Gold is the formula that my husband and I discovered last week during our "Learn to Compost" class.

In our ongoing effort to reduce our carbon footprint, my husband and I recently watched "Human Footprint" on the National Geographic Channel. Throughout the 1 hour show that aired on April 13 th, Host Elizabeth Vargas used visual representations to convey the message that Americans consume an enormous amount of food over their lifetime. The numbers were astonishing - 12,000 hamburger buns, 12,000 oranges, 19,000 eggs, 87,000 slices of bread, and 26,000 cups of milk. That is per person, per lifetime. Seeing those items spread across a football field made our jaws hit the floor and renewed conversations about what we can do to help.

Since our son was born last June, we have been making lifestyle changes to create less impact on the earth, from cloth diapers to reusable shopping bags. Our two recycle bins are overflowing by the end of the week because we no longer fill-up even one 13 gallon kitchen trash can with non-recyclable waste. We buy products sold with minimal or recycled packaging (did you know that the #5 plastics used for most food containers like sour cream or yogurt are one of the hardest and costliest plastics to recycle?). We expanded our vegetable garden this year, but since the City of Lakewood ( and my HOA) would frown upon me keeping a cow and chickens in the backyard, we still rely on our local grocer for much of what we consume. We try to buy only what we need, but there is still waste each week. With only two of us eating solid foods, I can't bring myself to serve Boca Veggie Dogs 4 days in a row to use the 8 hot dog buns before a couple of them mold.

A few days after "Human Footprint" aired, Oprah invited superstar BFF Julia Roberts to discuss howJulia composted her Thanksgiving Dinner with zero waste. The light bulb went off. If Julie Roberts can turn compost with a pitch fork, so could this suburban modern mommy!

Compost is a combination of organic material (GREEN) mixed in a 1:2 ratio with dry material (BROWN). The result is rich, nutritious material used as mulch and fertilizer for your garden, trees or lawn (BLACK GOLD).

Denver Recycles/Solid Waste Management, Denver Urban Gardens and Metro WasteWater Reclamation District sponsor a beginning composting class called "Learn to Compost". The free, two-hour class is offered on Saturdays and week nights throughout the summer in Denver Urban Gardens Grove Community Garden, and is taught by volunteers. Our two compost gurus guided us through the Composting Demo Site, showing us how to build or buy different types of compost bins, containers, and mounds. From a free-form pile directly on the ground with a tarp over the top, to perimeters created with cinder blocks, recycled crates or bamboo poles, to top-of-the line, rotating drums or balls made from recycled plastic, there are options available for every budget and backyard.

The process for composting is pretty straightforward. After buying or building a 3x3x3 foot compost bin, alternate 4-6 inches of brown matter with 2-3 inches of green matter. Browns are composed of things like newspapers, egg shells, dryer lint, peanut shells, vacuum cleaner bag contents, coffee filters, yard trimmings, and cardboard rolls. Greens are items such as moldy bread, fruits and vegetable peels, non-dairy or non-meat food scraps, pond algae and pet hair. Once a week, wet the pile to the consistency of a wrung-out sponge and stir with a pitch fork, allowing it to heat up to the optimal temperature of 140 degrees. In about two months you have compost that can be applied as mulch or sifted into a fine compost resembling products sold in stores.

According to the EPA, yard trimmings and food waste constitute more than 20% of the waste needlessly sent to landfills each year. The class is free, compost supplies are minimal, and it only requires a few minutes of time each week to maintain. Composting will reduce our waste, educate my child, and enrich my garden?

Sign me up! Now if I can just figure out where to put the cow...

The "Learn to Compost" class schedule is available at Denver Recyles. Denver Recycles also teaches a separate class on Worm Composting, a process by which thousands of red worms consume your green matter in a container stored under your kitchen sink. This is a favorite composting method among families with children (and based on my husband's reaction, dads).