Ep. 32: Home Composting with Delaina Arnold

Plants Always Win

Ep. 32: Home Composting with Delaina Arnold

September 02, 2025

Do you make compost at home? Do you delight in the experience? If your answer to either of those questions is no, this week’s guest is here to help.

Delaina Arnold is the community programs manager with the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere, a UNESCO-designated “ecologically significant” landscape where people are striving to live in balance with nature. As part of that striving, the Biosphere launched a pilot project in 2025 to help people learn about home composting, to get started doing it themselves, and to troubleshoot any problems. Now we get to benefit from all that education, as Delaina answers Erin’s questions on the subject.

We begin with the big question: why bother rotting our kitchen scraps at all? Then it’s on to busting common myths before entering a crash course on home composting: where to place your bin, what type to make or buy, and how not to hate the container you use for collecting scraps. We troubleshoot common problems like wildlife, smell, and slow decomposition, then get into a tangent on the truth about using urine in your compost. Of course we also cover how to decompose your garden trimmings safely and what to do with manure.

Ready to make some black gold with us? Then dive in to the interview.

Learn More

“Do the Rot Thing” webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74UODcc3IZE

All the Biosphere’s short, downloadable gardening guides, including “Composting 101”: https://georgianbaybiosphere.com/gardens/

The Biosphere’s community calendar: https://georgianbaybiosphere.com/events/

The Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve website: https://georgianbaybiosphere.com/

Citations

Urine and Soil Study

Rumeau, M., Pistocchi, C., Ait-Mouheb, N., Marsden, C., & Brunel, B. (2024). Unveiling the impact of human urine fertilization on soil bacterial communities: A path toward sustainable fertilization. Applied Soil Ecology, 201, 105471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105471

Follow the Biosphere On Social Media

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gbtownship/

On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GBayBiosphere

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Credits

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