18-Day Fast Compost [PDC Preview]

Geoff’s Permaculture Design Course — PDC 2.0 is now LIVE. To register, head here: Soil rehabilitation is a major subject in the Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course. Here’s a sample animation from the course covering the 18-Day Berkeley method of composting. Blackboard sections of the course are followed by animations like this one to go deeper into the specifics of the topics being covered. Video Overview: The tools necessary include a pitchfork, a hard rake, and a water-proof cover. The materials to be composted are things that have lived before, assembled in a carbon to nitrogen ratio of ideally 25-30 parts carbon to one part nitrogen. Anything with a carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of 30-50 to one is high carbon and slow to break down. These items should be shredded to increase surface area. Anything less than 30:1 doesn’t need to be shredded and will break down quickly. Piles should be composed of one-third shredde