Hi there! Let me tell you a fun story about my grandfather’s garden. He had a big garden where he grew bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, and a special fruit called ackee from Jamaica. Everything was super tasty! After we finished eating, instead of throwing away our food scraps, we put them in a little container. My grandfather called it “garden gold” because it helped his plants grow.
One day, someone named Callum asked a great question: “How does composting work?” Composting is like having a special bin for food scraps, just like my grandfather’s container. You put food scraps in, and they turn into something called compost, which looks like soil. This compost is great for gardens and farms because it helps new plants grow.
Have you ever left a piece of fruit out too long and it got mushy or fuzzy? That’s part of how composting works! Tiny living things called microorganisms, like fungi and bacteria, help break down the food scraps. These microorganisms are super small, but they are very important. They need food, water, and air to live, just like us!
Microorganisms are tiny living things. “Micro” means small, and “organism” means a living thing. So, microorganisms are tiny living things that help turn food scraps into compost. They eat the food scraps and break them down into smaller parts. This is why they are also called decomposers.
To make compost, we need to give microorganisms what they need: food (like food scraps), water, and air. We can add dry things like leaves and shredded paper too. By turning the compost pile with a pitchfork, we make sure the microorganisms get enough air. When they have everything they need, they turn the food scraps into compost!
Composting happens in nature too! In forests, leaves, branches, and even dead animals break down and become part of the soil. You might see worms and beetles helping out, but there are many microorganisms you can’t see doing the work.
Microorganisms are everywhere, even on food scraps, leaves, and in the air. But in landfills, they can’t do their job because there’s not enough air. That’s why food scraps take longer to break down there. By composting, we help the earth by turning food scraps into compost that helps new plants grow.
Isn’t it amazing that your food scraps can help make more food? Thanks to Callum for asking such a great question! Stay curious, and keep exploring the wonders around you!
Compost Jar Experiment: Create your own mini compost jar at home! Find a clear jar with a lid and fill it with layers of food scraps, soil, and dry leaves or shredded paper. Make sure to add a little water to keep it moist. Place the jar in a warm spot and observe it over a few weeks. What changes do you notice? Can you see any microorganisms at work? Draw or write about what you see happening in your compost jar.
Compost Scavenger Hunt: Go on a scavenger hunt in your backyard or a local park to find items that could be composted. Look for things like fallen leaves, twigs, or fruit scraps. Make a list or take pictures of what you find. Discuss with a friend or family member why these items are good for composting and how they help microorganisms do their job.
Microorganism Role Play: Pretend to be a microorganism! Gather a group of friends or family members and act out the process of composting. One person can be a piece of fruit, another can be a leaf, and others can be microorganisms. Show how the microorganisms break down the food scraps and turn them into compost. How do you think microorganisms feel when they get food, water, and air?
**Sanitized Transcript:**
(phone ringing) – Hi, it’s Danni. When I was growing up, my grandfather had a huge garden. He planted bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, and ackee. That’s a fruit he grew up eating in Jamaica. Everything was delicious. At the end of each meal, I knew the routine. We’d scrape off our plates, not into the trash, but into a little container. It was an old butter tub, stuffed with fruit rinds and veggie peels. To my grandfather, it was full of garden gold.
Someone named Callum has a question about something you can do with food scraps. Let’s give Callum a call now. (phone ringing) – Hi, Danni. – Hi, Callum. – I have a question for you. How does composting work? – Great question. Maybe you’ve heard of composting before. Sometimes you’ll see bins, like this: one for compost, one for recycling, and one for trash. The compost bin is like a big version of my grandfather’s container. You put in your food scraps. Then those food scraps get turned into something called compost. It looks kind of like garden soil, right? People add it to farms and gardens, like my grandfather did, and the compost helps new plants grow.
But how does this turn into this? What do you think? How do food scraps turn into compost? Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss. Okay, are you ready? I’m not sure how you answered, but maybe you guessed it had something to do with how food can change over time. Have you ever had a piece of fruit go from ripe to rotten, or forgotten to unpack your lunch for days? (chuckles) When you finally found it, that food probably looked and smelled different. It may have been mushy or covered in fuzzy spots. Could that mushy and fuzzy food turn into compost? You’re on the right track. Those changes are an important part of how composting works.
So, what’s causing those changes? Something’s definitely happening with those fuzzy spots, and there’s even more going on that you can’t see. If you zoomed in, you’d see things like these. They look like beads on a string or footballs from outer space. Some are fungi. They’re the ones causing the fuzzy spots. You might be more familiar with a different kind of fungi. Yep, mushrooms. But the fungi we are talking about are too tiny to see. Others here are bacteria. You may have heard of them too. Some bacteria can make your body sick, but other kinds don’t bother us at all.
These fungi and bacteria are microorganisms. You probably know what “micro” means. It’s something very tiny. An organism means an individual living thing, like one kid. Put those parts together, and that means a microorganism is a tiny living thing. These fungi and bacteria are living things, like you. You might be surprised that a kid and a fuzzy sandwich have something in common, but think about the things you need to live. You need food for energy and to help you grow. You need water to drink, and you need air to breathe. Many microorganisms need the same things.
To make compost, you need to make sure that microorganisms have everything they need to live. First, microorganisms need food. Maybe you already guessed that your food scraps become food for the microorganisms. Hey, if you don’t eat your lunch, they will. (chuckles) They also need dry options, like dead leaves and shredded paper. Check out what the microorganisms need now. It’s water. Microorganisms need to be just a bit damp. And see how this person uses a pitchfork to turn over the pile? That’s one way to make sure microorganisms get the air they need.
If you take care of the microorganisms by giving them the right balance of food, water, and air, they take care of the rest. The food scraps, leaves, and bits of paper start to change. The microorganisms break them down into smaller and smaller parts. They take things apart to get what they need. That’s why they’re also called decomposers. Eventually, you can’t tell what anything used to be. It’s all been broken down into compost, which will help new plants grow.
This process also happens without help from us. In a forest, fallen leaves, branches, and dead animals get slowly broken down and become a part of the soil. You might see some worms and beetles breaking things down, but there are many more microorganisms you can’t see that make this change happen.
Okay, so there are bacteria and fungi in a forest, but how do they get into the composting pile? Did we miss a step where the microorganisms get added? Well, even though you couldn’t see them, microorganisms were already on the food scraps, on the leaves, in the water, and in the air. Microorganisms are all over the place. However, there is a place where microorganisms have a hard time making compost. It’s a landfill. In a landfill, those microorganisms don’t get the air they need. So any food scraps there take longer to break down, and they don’t become compost that helps new plants to grow.
When food scraps become compost instead of trash, that helps the earth. Find out what composting options are available where you live. So, in summary, composting works thanks to tiny microorganisms like bacteria and fungi. By giving these microorganisms the things they need to live—food, water, and air—they break down our food scraps and change them into compost, which gets used to help new plants grow. How cool is it that your food scraps can help make more food?
That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Callum, for asking it. Now, we’ll be back with new episodes in August, but in the meantime, here are some older questions from the question jar. You can vote on which one you think we should send out next week. You can choose from: Where does salt come from? How did cotton candy get its name? Or, how do they turn wood into paper? So, submit your vote when the video’s over. We want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week.
