Composting on the Farm: Turning Waste Into Soil Gold

The first time my daughter Aria asked where the banana peels went, I realized we needed a better answer than “the trash.” She was six at the time and wanted to piece together how food works from start to finish.

We had been shifting more of our meals at home toward locally grown and organic foods, and composting felt like the next step. I bought a simple tumbling composter on Amazon and set it up beside the shed. Aria took the lead, spinning it after dinner, checking the smell, and asking what could or couldn’t go in. My other children, Ellie and Theo, helped too—mostly by adding leaves or racing each other to the bucket. Before long, it became part of our daily rhythm.

What we ended up with wasn’t garbage. It was compost rich enough to feed the soil in the garden we’d started in front of the house, where we live while Mission Farmstead takes shape. The pasture at the farm is just beginning to recover after many years of row cropping, but the habits we’re building at home are setting the foundation for what’s to come.

For us, composting didn’t start with the farm. It started in the kitchen, with a few scraps and a question from a kid who wanted to understand where things go.

Why Composting Matters

Reducing Waste

At home, we don’t throw away nearly as much as we used to. Between food scraps, coffee grounds, yard clippings, and cardboard egg cartons, most of what used to end up in the trash now goes into the compost bin.

The shift was simple. Instead of asking how fast we could get rid of something, we started asking what it could become. Food waste compost isn’t just about lightening the trash load. It reframes what “waste” really is.

Even on a small scale, composting cuts down what heads to the landfill and turns it into something useful.

Improving Soil Health

Compost doesn’t just feed plants. It feeds the soil. That’s one of the biggest lessons we’ve carried into our plans for the farm. The pasture spent years under conventional row crops. The soil was dry, low in organic matter, and struggling to hold nutrients.

Adding organic compost is how we begin restoring it. It builds structure, encourages microbial activity, and helps the soil hold water and nutrients better. Compost soil becomes living soil, and that’s what regenerative farming depends on.

How We Compost at Mission Farmstead

The farm is still in its early stages. We’re not operating large-scale systems yet, but everything we’re doing at home is helping us shape how we’ll handle composting and waste management here as things expand.

Materials We Use

If you're wondering what you can compost, it's pretty simple. Right now, our compost pile is mostly made up of food scraps and garden waste. That includes fruit peels, eggshells, coffee grounds, weeds, grass clippings, and cardboard. No meat or dairy. Just materials that break down safely and support healthy composting.

As we get closer to bringing in livestock, we’ll begin composting manure from the animals as well. That includes bedding materials like straw and sawdust, mixed with the waste from chickens and eventually pigs and cattle. Composting manure adds nitrogen to the pile and helps us recycle nutrients back into the soil.

Composting Systems & Techniques

At home, we use a tumbling compost bin like this one from Amazon. It’s compact and easy to manage. The turning keeps air flowing and helps the mix break down evenly. Every few weeks, we add finished compost back into the new batch to jumpstart the microbes.

When we scale up in the future, we’ll likely start with simple compost piles and build from there. As animals move through the pastures, their manure will help enrich the soil naturally. We may still compost garden waste and food scraps on the side, but the main goal will stay the same: return nutrients to the land and build healthier soil over time.

Compost Tea & Fertilizer

One of the easiest ways to stretch the benefits of compost is by making compost tea. And no, it’s not something you drink. It’s more like a fancy drink for your garden.

You make it by steeping finished compost in water, kind of like brewing a strong herbal tea, but for plants. That liquid becomes a nutrient-rich boost you can pour around young seedlings, fruiting vegetables, or any spot that needs a little extra love.

Compost tea doesn’t take the place of regular compost, but it works alongside it as a fast-acting, organic fertilizer that your soil will appreciate.

Tips for Composting at Home

Composting doesn’t take fancy gear or a lot of land. You can start with a backyard pile or a bin beside the garage.

Backyard Composting

If you’re wondering how to compost at home, the best way to start is with a small bin or pile. Tumblers are great for keeping things tidy and manageable. Larger bins or open piles work if you’re adding more material.

Layer greens (like kitchen scraps and grass) with browns (like dead leaves or paper). Keep the pile slightly damp and turn it often. That air circulation helps keep the breakdown aerobic, which means no bad smells.

We started small with just a compost bin and a few basic tools—nothing fancy, just what we had on hand. If you’re getting your own setup going, I’ve put together a list of homesteading essentials that helped us get started.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Composting

• Too wet or too dry: Compost piles should be moist but not soggy. If it smells bad, it needs more air. If it’s dry and dusty, it needs water.
• Poor balance of materials: A good compost pile needs a mix of greens and browns. Too much of either can slow things down.
• Adding the wrong items: Avoid meat, dairy, oily foods, and anything synthetic. Stick with natural, plant-based scraps.
• No turning: A static pile can work, but it takes longer. Turning helps speed things up and prevents odor.

Bringing It Back to the Soil

Composting has become a daily habit in our home. What started as a simple project with the kids now shapes how we think about food waste, soil health, and how to build better ground for what’s ahead. It's all part of the bigger regenerative farming picture we're building here at Mission Farmstead. 

We’re still just getting started, but composting is already proving to be one of the most powerful tools we have to rebuild what was lost.

👉 Want to know what tools we use to compost? Take a look at Mike’s Toolbox