Can you guess what several former Presidents of the USA, explosive TNT, and a peculiar bird from Australia have in common?
As you’ll find out in this blog post, the thread that connects them is the humble but extraordinary process of composting.
Intrigued?
Well, that’s just the start, because whether you are simply looking for quirky trivia questions for a quiz or some super interesting facts to get kids interested in composting, you’ll find plenty here…
1. There’s a bird that makes compost to incubate its eggs
Evolution can head in some weird and wonderful directions. Perhaps there are few weirder than the Australian Brush-turkey which builds a communal compost pile to incubate eggs.
The bird collects decaying material and then builds a mound. The compost heats up, allowing the bird to incubate many more eggs than it could sit on.
This is not a build and leave system though – the bird checks the temperature of the compost with its beak and then adds or remove compost material to maintain an ideal incubation heat.
The piles can be up to 12.7 cubic meters and weigh nearly 7000 kilograms!
2. The President who loved composting
Washington is best known as a Founding Father and the President of the USA.
What’s not as well known was that he had an early appreciation for the soil – abandoning the cultivation of tobacco because it ruined the fertility of the land- and was an avid composter, performing experiments to find the best way to turn dung into compost.
In his quest for fertility, Washington pursued numerous experiments and even constructed a stercorary or “dung repository” specifically designed for composting.
Washington wasn’t the only President who had an interest in fertility. Thomas Jefferson used fresh, semi-decomposed and rotted down manure to fertilise his soil, and also wrote about combining applications of manure with a crop rotation system.
Meanwhile, America’s fourth president, James Maidson, stressed the importance of returning fertility to the soil, either in the form of manure or vegetable matter, equivalent to the amount that had been taken from it.
3. Composting dates back 12,000 years
Composting is nothing new – archeological evidence suggests that composting has been in progress since Neolithic times.
These early farmers probably didn’t bother spreading the compost either – researchers believe they constructed the piles on the growing land and then ran their ards (light ploughs) straight through them.
4. Turn human remains into compost
Your death doesn’t have to contribute towards harming the environment – in fact, one funeral company, Recompose, can turn a body into a usable compost in 30 days, and, in the process, save a metric ton of carbon emissions.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to see the results of adding all that compost to your garden 🙁
5. The unexpected compost ingredient: TNT
TNT is an organic compound which contains, amongst other elements, nitrogen and carbon. And if you’ve read our guide to the Carbon:Nitrogen ratio, you’ll know they’re two of the essential elements needed for successful composting.
The US army has combined TNT with other compostable elements to create compost, reduce harm to the environment and save millions of dollars in the process.
6. Cockroach composting: An unconventional, but efficient method
Search for compost with cockroaches and you’ll usually get guides telling you how to keep cockroaches OUT of your compost. But cockroaches are, apparently, clean, hungry and able to produce compost without a smell.
You can also buy cockroaches which can’t climb, to minimise the danger of them escaping the compost container. According to one fan:
“the compost it produces is amazingly rich and dense and full of bonuses like chicken bones, catfish skulls, crustacean shells, and whatever else of the kitchen scraps was too hard to eat.”
Read the full account on Garden rants.
7. Compost can reach 75 degrees in just a few days
That’s not necessarily a good thing though – heaps which are too hot can produce ash instead of soil, and can destroy beneficial bacteria. Unfortunately, there’s very little agreement on what is the ideal temperature for compost 🙁
8. Culinary adventures: Cooking with hot compost
All that heat means compost can – and has been – used for cooking (usually after being well wrapped in silver foil!) There’s even some high end restaurants that are experimenting with compost cooking!
Don’t take our word for it, though – Buzz Feed went ahead and did it, recording the results on the video below!
9. Hot compost can be used to grow heat loving plants in cold climates
There’s nothing new to this process – the ‘hot bed’ process was used by the Romans, and was popular in Victorian days.
Essentially, composting material (usually manure) is placed in a bed. As it rots, it generates heat which sustains the warmth loving vegetables. The Victorians used to carefully work more manure into the bed in order to maintain the heat.
One friend of mine built a wooden container onto the side of his house, heaped it full of manure and used the heat to grow melons outside – the results were excellent. He reports that even old manure generates enough heat to keep the melons going!
I’ve also tried this with a freshly turned compost heap, using tomato cuttings. To start with the heat generated was too much for the plants, which looked very unhappy, but as the temperature dropped back I was rewarded with lush green growth and plenty of outdoor tomatoes.
10. Compost can be used to heat greenhouses and houses
The heat compost produces can be used to heat greenhouses and polytunnels. Compost can also be used to heat houses.
One method involves running hot water pipes through a compost heap with at least 8000 litres of capacity, while inventor Jean Pain invented a system which used both methane and heat to power and heat a house.
The video below shows more detail on the process.
11. Compost heaps can spontaneously combust
Compost heaps can catch fire if they get too hot! Fortunately, it’s rare, and usually only happens to very large, dry compost heaps. S
till, if you have a hot summer it’s definitely worth checking your compost heap, and damping it down or turning it if it’s too hot.
12. Chickens can be used to create commercial compost
The amazing Vermont Composting Company uses chickens as part of its composting process. The chickens scratch and turn the compost in the search for food, adding chicken manure at the same time.
It’s a cost effective process, too – the chickens find so much food in the compost, they don’t need any feeding! You can read more about the process on the Vermont Compost blog.
13. Drunken composting is an actual method!
One vlogger uses a combination of beer (for yeast), coke (for sugar) and ammonia for (nitrogen) to help produce finished compost in just 14 days. He calls the process “Drunk Composting.”
I’ve tried a similar process myself in my micro-composting experiment, but substituting urine for ammonia, adding sugar instead of coke and using out of date beer to provide the alcohol. Until I’ve done a comparison, though, I can’t be sure it works any better than regular composting 😉
You can see the full process in the video below…
(An unhealthy alternative might be to drink plenty of beer and a can of coke, and then pee on your compost heap!)
14. The worms in your compost heap can eliminate disease
Composting is an amazing process that destroys pathogens in both the hot and cold parts of the composting process.
Worms play their part. Not only can they eat their own body weight in a day, producing highly beneficial worm castings in the process, they can also eliminating harmful bacteria such as e-coli.
15. Historical composting: Cleopatra’s sacred earthworms
Cleopatra recognised the value of worms long before modern researchers – the Egyptian Queen is reported to have made worms sacred in 50 BC because of their composting ability, and made the removal of Earthworms from Egypt a crime punishable by death.
16. One form of composting involves burying special ingredients in parts of dead animals
Biodynamic composting is a fascinating form of composting which involves putting certain plants in parts of animals.
For example, yarrow is buried in a stags bladder and buried in the ground in autumn where it is left for six months, while Chamomile flowers are placed inside a cow’s intestine and buried in the soil over winter.
You can read more about on Biodynamic.org.
17. Arab countries used to export fish for composting
Qatar, before striking its own black gold in the form of oil and natural gas, was poor in most resources but rich in fish. So rich that they used to export thousands of tonnes of fish for use as a fertiliser.
18. Urine is great for compost
Your pee is rich in nitrogen, and composting research suggest that compost with added urine performs better than regular compost, helping prevent the accumulation of salts and balancing out the slower releasing nutrients found in compost.
19. The National Trust uses pee bales to turn urine into fertilizer
At some locations, the UK’s National Trust encourage (male!) staff to pee on straw bales (outside working hours!) instead of using toilets. The straw is later spread on fields.
20. You can compost dead turkeys
In fact, dead poultry composting has been used since 1988 when a scientist, Dr. Dennis Murphy, developed a method using straw, litter and dead birds.
The technique came in handy when 20,000 Turkeys were drowned in a flood in Mississippi in 1993 – the farmer was advised that composting was the safest and easiest way to get rid of the dead birds.
21. In composting, green can be brown
Green, in composting parlance, refers to a high nitrogen material, not the colour. For example, coffee may be brown, but it is referred to as a green. See our article on the Carbon Nitrogen Ratio for more information.
22. Composting can capture carbon in the soil
High tech solutions are being developed to capture carbon and reduce the impact of human activity on the environment. But composting is a relatively low tech way of achieving the same thing according to studies such as this one on Carbon Sinking and this one on sequestering carbon.
As methane emissions count for around 10% of greenhouse emissions in the US alone, simply ensuring household waste alone is composted could become a serious tool in the battle to save our planet.
Wrapping up
Composting is full of fascinating facts, and I am learning more about it all the time.
But perhaps one of the most amazing things about is its many benefits.
These include turning a waste product into a resource so valuable it’s called “black gold”, improving soil structure and combatting pollution.
And that’s just fantastic.
FAQs
How does the Australian Brush-turkey use compost in its breeding process?
The Australian Brush-turkey uses compost in its breeding process by collecting decaying material to build a mound. This compost heats up, allowing the bird to incubate more eggs than it could sit on. The bird also checks the temperature of the compost with its beak and adds or removes material to maintain an ideal incubation heat.
Who is known as America’s First Composter?
George Washington. The President had an early appreciation for the soil and was an avid composter, performing experiments to find the best way to turn dung into compost. In his quest for fertility, he pursued numerous experiments and even constructed a stercorary or “dung repository” specifically designed for composting.
How does the US Army use TNT in its composting process?
TNT, an organic compound, contains nitrogen and carbon which are two of the essential elements needed for successful composting. The US Army has used TNT in combination with other compostable elements to create compost, reduce environmental harm, and save millions of dollars.
How are cockroaches used in composting?
Cockroaches are clean, hungry, and able to produce compost without a smell. They can be bought for composting purposes, and the compost they produce is rich and dense. They’re not the only insect used for composting – soldier fly larvae is also becoming increasingly popular for composting.
How are chickens used in the composting process?
The Vermont Composting Company uses chickens as part of its composting process. The chickens scratch and turn the compost in the search for food, adding chicken manure at the same time. This process is cost-effective, as the chickens find so much food in the compost that they don’t need any additional feeding.
How did Cleopatra contribute to composting history?
Cleopatra recognized the value of worms for their composting ability long before modern researchers. The Egyptian Queen is reported to have made worms sacred in 50 BC, and the removal of Earthworms from Egypt was a crime punishable by death.
Can dead poultry be composted?
Yes, dead poultry can be composted. This method has been used since 1988 when a scientist, Dr. Dennis Murphy, developed a method using straw, litter, and dead birds. It has proven useful in situations such as when 20,000 turkeys were drowned in a flood in Mississippi in 1993 – composting was the safest and easiest way to dispose of the dead birds.
That said, if you are not an experienced composter, it is best to leave composting dead animals until you have developed your composting skills. Animals are best composted in hot compost heaps and bins, which break down the carcasses rapidly. Failure to compost them correctly can cause foul smells and attract vermin.
Why is coffee referred to as a “green” in composting terminology?
Answer: In composting terminology, “green” refers to a high-nitrogen material, not the color. While coffee may be brown in color, it is referred to as a “green” due to its high nitrogen content. Understanding the Carbon:Nitrogen ratio is vital for successful composting.
Read more
23 Benefits of Compost Backed by Science
Compost History: The Fascinating Story of an Ancient Science