| We are big believers and followers of organic farming | | | | are high in nitrogen, but be a bit careful not to |
| and gardening. But alongside that we also enjoy a cup | | | | overload one spot as they are also pretty acidic. |
| of really GOOD coffee. This ends up in a pretty large | | | | Adding other brown material such as leaves and |
| pile of used coffee grounds from our plungers by the | | | | grass cutting to the mulch will help keep a more |
| end of the week. We personally like plunger coffee | | | | balanced pH. |
| better than the drip filter stuff. The eco-nature of | | | | Mixing coffee grounds in your compost |
| the our lifestyle negates the use of electric | | | | Coffee grounds act as a green material with |
| percolators etc and the plunger lets us each control | | | | carbon-nitrogen (C-N) ratio of 20-1. They make an |
| how strong we want the blend! This also leaves a | | | | excellent addition to your compost, along with other |
| really course ground coffee which we need to | | | | vegetable and salad kitchen waste. |
| dispose of on the island. | | | | Combined with other composting material such as |
| So what to do with the used grounds? Well we | | | | leaves, straw and cut grass, coffee grounds |
| collect them all in a special bucket and transfer them | | | | generate heat and will speed up the composting |
| up to our organic farm and garden. Luckily with the | | | | process. Grounds should be no more than 25% of |
| volume of farming and gardening done by Jeanie and | | | | any one compost pile's content, otherwise the |
| Josefa, these grounds never go to waste! | | | | balance is wrong and the system doesn't work as |
| Here are some tips for making great use of those | | | | well. |
| otherwise wasted resources. (I wonder what | | | | Using coffee grounds in a worm bin |
| Starbucks does with its daily tonnes of used | | | | Worms fed with coffee grounds combined with the |
| grounds?)throw them directly in to your garden | | | | normal composting materials will flourish! They grow |
| Coffee grounds can be thrown directly into your | | | | faster and break down the materials faster. maybe |
| gardens and vegetable beds as a side dressing for | | | | it's all that good caffeine speeding them about! |
| vegetables, roses and other plants. Coffee grounds | | | | |