Now this is a trick that I picked up from a published gardener while I was on a backpacking trip with Sierra Club Outings. I mentioned I did this compost blog and we started really getting into our favorite practices. This is hers that I now have fully encapsulated into my own.

You may have heard that there is a known lack of calcium within our soils causing our plants to suffer from a sort of calcium deficiency. In fact some fertilizers with a more than healthy dosage of potassium or nitrogen can be the causers of this issue.

So what do you do? Why you create the Egg-Shell Calcium Enrichment Treatment! ESCET! Or ‘escet’ if you prefer.

Now instead of throwing away or doing the normal composting with your egg shells, let’s try out a new technique. Have a small jar or ceramic container to place your egg shells (preferably washed, but not mandatory) then use an unobtrusive beating tool to smash down the egg shells into tiny bits on the bottom. My beating tool is a bottle opener.

ESCET

This way they will be compacted allowing for more room, as well as 1 step closer to becoming paste. When you are about half full with your container or at a level where you feel it sufficient we will commence with our finishing grind of the egg shells. This is best done in a style similar to grinding corn meal from corn kernels. But being that I’ve never done such a thing I will probably just put it in a big ceramic bowl, take the back-end of some tool I have and go to town. I will then dilute the paste into my watering vase and further the lives and lusciousness of my beautiful plants!

My ESCET Container sits proudly on top of my oven where I won't forget :)

For urban composters such as myself this technique is perfect because I can still compost, creating something wortwhile, while not having to worry about my space requirements, smell, or putting something outside when it may be freezing!

Another worthwhile benefit to note is that worm don’t enjoy feeding on half-broken egg shells in their bin. They much prefer things broken down before inhaling them. SO, use this technique for all of your egg shells and then add some to your worms with some water later in the month, they’ll thank you for it.