The closed-loop homestead: plants, animals, compost

In short

• The loop has five stations: soil → plants → people and animals → leftovers and manure → compost → soil.
• A vegetable garden needs roughly 2–4 kg of compost per m² a year. Work out whether you have enough.
• Fresh manure never goes on vegetables eaten raw. Compost it first, or work it in at least 120 days before harvest.
• The biggest losses are manure left in the rain, burnt leaves, bought-in feed and bare soil over winter.
• Kitchen scraps go to the compost, not to the animals: in the UK, the EU and Canada this is banned even for meat-free scraps (African swine fever, foot-and-mouth). Animals get only raw leftovers from the garden.

What's inside

Chapters

1. What a closed loop is
2. Where a homestead leaks
3. Compost: the heart of the loop
4. Animals in the loop
5. Animal feed from the homestead
6. Plants that feed the soil
7. Getting manure safely back into the garden
8. Rotation: animals and plants on the same land
9. The loop at each homestead level
10. Most common mistakes
11. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Homestead flow map
• Compost calculator
• Loop calendar
• Compost log
• Record of inputs and outputs
• Rotation and crop rotation plan