I hope you were able to celebrate Earth Day last week by taking a walk outside, picking up a piece of trash, or turning off a few lights. Anything helps! Every day we should strive to reduce waste, save energy, walk instead of drive or do a small act to help save our planet! At Cuisine for Healing, we try to do our part to reduce our food waste. One of the most popular, and easiest ways to reduce food waste is composting.
Compost is made by decomposing organic materials into simpler organic and inorganic compounds by a process that recycles various organic materials otherwise regarded as waste products. Composting is a great way to help reduce landfills. Landfills are growing by the minute leading to an increase of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. These gases are produced when bacteria break down the organic waste. If you are unable to compost in your home, there are alternatives here in Fort Worth. There are also many other ways to reduce food waste in your household. Below are a few ways to save the earth inside and outside of the kitchen:
- Compost in Garden
- Start your compost pile on bare earth.
- Lay twigs or straw first, a few inches deep.
- Add compost materials in layers, alternating moist and dry
- Add manure, green manure (clover, buckwheat, wheatgrass, grass clippings), or any nitrogen source.
- Keep compost moist. Water occasionally, or let the rain do the job.
- Cover with anything you have – wood, plastic sheeting, carpet scraps. Covering helps retain moisture and heat, two essentials for compost.
- Turn every few weeks
- Drop off Compost in Fort Worth
- Cowboy Compost
- Fort Worth composting program
- Make Vegetable broth with vegetable scraps
- Place vegetable trimmings in a large stockpot or Dutch oven. Fill the pot just above the trimmings with cold water and add crushed garlic cloves, peppercorns, or bay leaves
- Make Croutons with stale bread
- Croutons are easy to make. … Cut the bread into cubes or whatever shapes you like. Dump them into a big bowl, drizzle on some olive oil or melted butter until the bread is well-covered, spice it how you like, and then spread croutons out on a sheet pan
- Retain the seeds, pits, and cuttings of your veggies and regrow them at home – saving you money on seeds or seedlings
- Make yummy potato peel chips out of your potato or sweet potato scraps
