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Composting
Composting is "a biological process in which the organic portion of refuse is allowed to decompose under carefully controlled conditions":
Composting offers a method of processing and recycling both garbage and sewage sludge in one operation. As more stringent environmental rules and siting constraints limit the use of solid-waste incineration and landfill options, the application of composting is likely to increase. The steps involved in the process include sorting and separating, size reduction, and digestion of the refuse.
(Encyclopedia Britannica; use your 14-digit Hamilton-Wenham library card for access 24 hours a day)
Print Resources
Our library has a number of books on the subject of composting. Start with the list of titles we own below, including several children's book titles. You can also use our library catalog to search and reserve other books, to be brought in from other MVLC libraries. Click here for a system-wide selection of books that list composting as a subject.
| The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook Hanson, David 631.5 WIS |
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| Compost: The Natural Way To Make Food For Your Garden Thompson, Ken 631.875 THO |
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| Composting Inside & Out Davies, Stephanie 635 DAV |
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| The Soil and Health: A Study of Organic Agriculture Howard, Albert 635.987 HOW |
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| Worms Eat My Garbage Appelhof, Mary 639 APP |
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| The Worm Book: The Complete Guide to Growing Earthworms For Composting and Gardening Appelhof, Mary 639 NAN |
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| How to Build, Maintain, and Use a Compost System Smith, Kelly M. 639.5 SMI |
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| The Complete Guide to Greenhouses and Garden Projects Black & Decker Corporation 690 COM |
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| Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe For the Earth Siddals, Mary McKenna JJ SID |
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| Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story Glaser, Linda J 635.048 GLA |
Be sure to check all of the Print and Media Resources that have been purchased with funds from the How Green Is My Library? grant.
Spotlighted Electronic Resource
Use the Gardening, Landscape and Horticulture Collection for more information on composting. This link should work anywhere in the state of Massachusetts. Once in, just type your search term into the search engine. If you start to type the word compost, Search Assist will immediately begin supplying possible searches like compost, compost plants, and composting. You have the option of making Keyword, Subject, Publication Title and Entire Document searches; you can also restrict your results to documents with full text, peer-reviewed publications, and/or documents with images.
Once you have submitted your initial search, the left sidebar will provide you with the option of specific content types: Magazines (the default), Academic Journals, and so forth. You can also view related subjects: for example, Gardening, Organic Fertilizers, and Mulching.
You can also use this collection to research the biology of various plant species, create floral arrangements, find easy-to-use landscape design tips, develope landscaping contracts, prune flowers correctly, plan urban landscapes, use computer graphics in landscape design, and find out the best time to plant trees, or which plants are indigenous to a particular area.
Gardening, Landscape and Horticulture is a Gale InfoTrac® collection and is great for targeted searching within that area; however, if you want, you can also use InfoTrac® PowerSearch to search multiple Gale collections in a single search.
For more possibilities, visit our Electronic Resources With A Green Focus.
Past Events
Do you want a refresher on a program you attended, |
Master Gardener Betty Sanders presented Dirt On Your Hands, Soil In The Garden on March 7th, 2012. She believes that the soil we plant in is the most overlooked aspect of gardening, and discussed how using gardening methods which improve rather than hurt the soil, with an emphasis on turning kitchen and gardening waste into compost, can create gardens from the ground up.
Lisa Spence of the Salem Community Cardens presented on the ins and outs of home composting in Vermicomposting on April 11th. Attendees asked many questions and had an opportunity to view our library's vermicomposter, learning about the 2,000 red worms who call it home.
Tuesday, September 25th marked the end of our Sunflower Growing Contest., which began in May. Participants used the seeds we provided, together with the soil and fertilizers of their choice, to grow big, beautiful sunflowers. The library received 14 entries altogether. Congratulations go to the Dobbins family, who swept the two winning categories: tallest sunflower (12'10 1/4'') and largest sunflower head (13'' in diameter.)
Thanks also go to local Hamilton student Julia, who created a Jing video earlier in the year, demonstrating how to use our subscription to the InfoTrac databases to research sunflowers and learn about growing them. It was a great help!
Brought To You By...
This project is being funded through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners with funds from LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act), a Federal source of library funding provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Return to Special Projects >> Go Green at Hamilton-Wenham
Modified 10/10/2011
