Greens & Browns– There’s Not Much Else To Worry About!

So you just heard ESW Beauty’s sheet masks are compostable and you are wondering what goes into a healthy compost– here is the perfect recipe to turn your sheet mask into fertile soil for your plants!

Photo by Carll Goodpasture

The Basics

You’ll often see composting simplified to color coding to simplify the types of ingredients you need for a healthy & fertile backyard compost. All composting requires three basic ingredients:

• Browns - This includes materials such as dead leaves, branches, twigs, paper bags, cardboard, shredded paper, and wood chips.

• Greens - This includes materials such as grass clippings, vegetable waste, fruit scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, and even egg shells.

• Water - Having the right amount of water, greens, and browns is important for compost development.

Always keep you compost pile moist (not soaking wet) and be sure to turn it for optimal aeration

A successful compost should have an even amount of each basic ingredient. Many composting experts recommend alternating the colors in layers as they provide different gasses needed to facilitate the composting process– the browns providing carbon, and the green providing nitrogen.

Some Materials I Recommend Avoiding & Why

• Dairy products - these tend to create smells & odors that attract bugs and rodents

• Meat or fish bones - like dairy products they will create odors that attract pests

• Oil or foods cooked in oil - this can slow down the process and disrupt the airflow which is essential for a healthy compost.

• Pet waste could contain parasites, bacteria, germs, or pathogens that can be harmful to humans.

• Yard trimmings that have been treated with pesticides. These pesticides could kill the beneficial organisms in your compost pile.

My best tip: break down any and everything you can before tossing it in your compost. The smaller a piece of material is, the faster it can break down! So rip, tear, crush, and chop your materials before composting.

Why Is Healthy Compost So Important?

Keeping a healthy compost not only improves your own experience by reducing smell, but it also greatly impacts the environment.

Composting is an amazing way to fuel our earth. A successful compost is filled with nutrients and is the perfect way to get healthier, more delicious produce. The earth will thank you and so will your food. The beauty of feeding the earth is that it gives back tenfold.

Forming stable soil is really important for irrigation and water infiltration. When soil improves it can retain more water helping to avoid drought and inhabitability.

Setting up an at home compost can be intimidating, but if you remember to eat well, your compost likely will eat well too. Just remember your greens and browns-- good luck composting!