What it Takes to Start a Compost Operation + Dealing With Pests in Compost (With Jayne Merner)

[@MK-ti2oo]

Not a commercial compost operation here, but I am a small-scale farmer on 50 acres in the Sierra Nevada. Much of the property is forested/ wild so i have a pretty large compost operation on site just for our own use and family/friends. We have heavy bear pressure, and we use the same principle- food waste is never left exposed. Bury it with plenty of carbon and I've never had a bear dig into a thermophilic pile. No fencing around it or anything. A cold pile may be a different story but i keep my piles hot and it's never been an issue for me.

[@skydogfarm9471]

Hey Farmer Jesse, We love your videos and new podcast. AND we LOVE Jane and the whole Earth Care Family! We live in RI and know them personally and highly recommend their products. Thanks for spreading the good word about kind folks like the Merner family.🥰

[@cliffpalermo]

Financial assurance= huge liability. Jessie your the man with the instant pivot, bring the operation to the farm!

[@LovingFlowers]

I have listened to every episode of the Composter podcast and I love love love Jayne!❤ I’m a home gardener and built a 3 bay compost system in the spring. I just covered the garden cleanup with leaves from the school across the street! I also contacted a local oyster restaurant to collect their oyster shells! I didn’t expect to fall in love with composting when I got into gardening but it’s absolute magic! Edit: spelling

[@cypsteel]

That financial assurance piece, I would totally throw that in ChatGPT and then ask easy questions.

[@williamcurry185]

Best episode ever! Jesse and Jane 2 of my fav edutainers.

[@victorandrews9790]

great interview & info, Jesse! As a gardener, I wanted to start composting for sevrl reasons..cut down on trash & build my own soils. But, pest are an issue in No. Middle Tennessee. Frustratingly so!

[@aileensmith3062]

Always an entertaining and a learning experience listening to Jayne. Thank You for having her on your daily show!

[@KokoraLife]

Great info! Thanks! 🌿

[@johnrosier1686]

I have heard several of Jayne’s podcasts and I always learn something new from them. Composting has different rules for different jurisdictions. I live in a township but part of my property borders a village on one side. I am allowed to compost as much as I want too but I am fairly certain the neighbors in the village aren’t allowed even a small container for composting. In the county I used to live in we were told we could have up to one pile or compost container per property. I had 5 different piles or containers going before I knew the rules. If you get creative most folks don’t even know what you are doing.

[@MrJimtheRooster]

Great guest. I plan on starting my own composting facility in KY for organic production If Jayne was a president she'd be Babe-raham Lincoln 😂😂😂

[@lucasnon1070]

I love Jane's laugh

[@yLeprechaun]

Jaaaaane!!!! I can't wait for this. Hi Jane, it's the puddle pig. ;)

[@brokenmeats5928]

I love ALL No-Till Growers videos!

[@wendyeames5758]

A flower farmer here in central texas (so brutal heat & most of that time, you cant buy a breeze), swears by putting vit C powder in her water.

[@sc-dw6gt]

the superheated, sort of dryish gray patches inside a compost pile is called firefang (it's a hard thing to find info about, but that's what it's called here, tho I originally learned the term from England). The bad thing about firefang is that it is metabolizing nitrogen into a gas, back into the air, which is of course not what you want. Firefang patches are WAY hotter than the pile should be (you can get blisters from sticking your hand in it) and it means that part of the pile is too dry (tho it often occurs as a dryish patch inside a really wetter pile). So, solved by watering and mixing.

[@WesternMONo-TillGardening]

I'm not a fan of eating watermelon but make watermelon agua fresca a lot during the summer. SOOOOO refreshing.

[@abydosianchulac2]

Highly disagree on the snags/dead trees being eyesores, I love me a good bare tree standing sentinel through the foliage. It's a sign of a healthy forest and a huge boost to the environment.

[@marycochran-mm6hy]

I have found LMNT drink mix helps a lot with dehydration.

[@rickthelian2215]

I like Jayne and her father and their farm it’s a wonderful place Jayne, Reference to question, my thoughts of financial assurance is do you have the FUNDS IN TRUST to pay any FINES if you broke the rules and caused a pollution issue.😊 That works in my backyard with my pallet size compost bins, rats occasionally, but birds love the flys😊 I know you need to test each batch of compost with regulaters according to other KZbin footage of composting operations 😊 Keep up the good work Jayne, thanks for interview Jessie😀🇦🇺 Just to add if any inputs to new operation would be if there’s been any inputs have been affected by Round-Up?

[@summawub]

Can I put plants in my compost that grew on my septic drain field area?

[@tannerfrancisco8759]

Absolutely

[@soilbellefarm3710]

LOVE!!!

[@ThinkLittleFarm]

👀the hoodie. GO CATS!

[@notillgrowers]

#bbn for life

[@jeremiahthomas2669]

What do you put the juice in for freezing. Let me know please

[@danphillips4590]

Cant get their compost from RI to Va, tried to get a tractor trailer load hauled down from them, cost prohibitive. Found another place in NC, only 120 miles from farm.

[@harlyq71]

Hi Jesse, hi Jane 😊 I live in Arizona and struggle with compost because it's arid. My average annual rainfall is about ~12" Is it possible to use greywater in compost? For context, I'm referring to my own vegetable garden.

[@tannerfrancisco8759]

Absolutely. If you can safely use greywater for plants and irrigation, you could use it for composting.

[@ArizonaGrows]

The thing that freaks me out with food scrap compost is that a lot of that food is GMO pesticide laden crap, and normally comes with a bunch of other plastic waste in it that needs to be sorted. What are your thoughts. I could be way off base but in my organic garden I'm trying not to vote introduce micro plastics or those Bayer sprayed crops.

[@michellejaggard9657]

I get bine weed in my compost pile how can I stop this?

[@SommaRob]

I’m stressing to find my “startup” volume of compost and the. How much will I need for sustaining operations. All calculations point to a compost business scale. I’m in NY and understand many basics about a farm business, this sends me into paralysis! Lol

[@CL-nn8cl]

Here's something to try: add a little lemon to your watermelon juice. It's yummy. 🍉🍉🍉🍋🍉🍉🍉

[@mckennahicks5259]

I’m wondering if she’s concerned with incoming chemicals from grass clippings or garden scraps with sprays or pellet fertilizer or “cides”. I have access to unlimited carbon just trying to add it to pig pens and animal bedding areas to absorb to compost was thinking about posting free leaf drop off or anything like that just worried about any of the bag mower weed and feed guys

[@markuswade2158]

As she is talking about pests....a house fly listens intently from its perch on her microphone 😅

[@richy7tube]

Watermelon has lots of E.Z. water. Look up Dr. Gerald Pollack EZ water.

[@zedmeinhardt3404]

On the hydration topic, have you considered a "camel back" ?

[@dorcasrodriguez2901]

❤❤❤

[@lesterpeyton9966]

Something so simple made complicated by government.

[@ronaldcummings6337]

She's just as cute as she sounds.

[@Pinky-jz7om]

Ew