permaculture

[seaseal <seaseal@got.net>]

Composting can be divided into two types: aerobic or with oxygen and  
anaerobic without oxygen. Most commercial composting is anaerobic and  
produces methane (now this process is being touted as the energy  
producer of the future). Usually anaerobic conditions do NOT break  
down even newspaper--see National Geographic on Garbage and their  
wonderful article on landfills of the past.

The commercial composting businesses I've visited use large machines  
(not too energy efficient) to turn or otherwise add oxygen to the  
compost materials.

If oxygen is not there, the aerobic micro-organisms can't live and  
can't decompose the materials, whether they are compostable or not.  
This is why things don't break down in a sanitary landfill. They just  
sit there, sealed in an anaerobic coffin.

Anaerobic micro-organisms are the ones that produce the methane. These  
are the same ones that create methane problems from large numbers of  
cattle--and what are indelicately known as farts in humans and all  
other animals with anaerobic micro-organisms in their guts.

Cecile
seaseal@got.net

The demineralisation of our food involves a lot more than the minerals  
that are now missing from our soils. Food processing is a major  
culprit. When you take wholemeal flour and convert it to white flour,  
you lose around 80% of the nutrient value in the process. In fact, the  
white flour officially becomes an “anti-nutrient” - something that  
takes more from your body than what you put in.