Compost is not hard to make on the farm once the basics of composting are understood, says Dr. Lynne Carpenter-Boggs. Composting is simply decomposition that happens en masse, said Carpenter-Boggs, coordinator of Washington State University’s Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming program. The cycle of mineralization and immobilization repeats itself during composting, she added. Heat is one of the most important ingredients when composting. “You need to reach 130°F inside the compost pile to kill weed seeds and pathogens,” she said during a recent Washington wine grape convention. Single-cell bacteria—the compost workers—can double in number in less than an hour, […]