Bone meal

In the process of trying to learn how to use everything (or at least leave as little waste as I can), I started thinking about the bones and veggies left over when I made stock. A few months ago I searched high and low, and while I can't remember or find the exact links now, this is what I came up with.

I took the bones out of the stock and set them on a baking sheet,just a small one from an old toaster oven. (I noticed when I took them out that the bones were VERY soft, and this will be important later on in this post.) So then I just let the bones sit out on top of our toaster oven. We don't have a microwave, so the toaster oven is our go-to appliance. Every time we used it, the bones heated and dried out. I left them there for many months, although they were probably ready after about one month. First, they got really hard. It was when the bones moved past this phase and into brittle that they were ready for grinding.

They were brittle enough to grind into a fine powder with my little kitchen food processor. It took a few minutes, but it was certainly easy. Then I dumped it into a bag and it was ready to go.

Yep, a plastic baggie. I said I'm working on no waste, not that I've gotten there!! But it's all ready to go out onto my garden when spring fully arrives.

Remember how I mentioned that the bones were really soft when I first took them out of the broth? Then they hardened as they dried? Well, that got me thinking. What if I just ground them up, veggies and all, then threw it on the compost pile? I know that meat and the like can attract unsavory critters, but a small amount, well buried, seems like it should compost quickly enough to avoid the problem. So when I had another pile of stock leftovers this morning, I decided to try it.

I took my freshly drained stock leftovers and a little water and tossed it all into the blender. It took only a few seconds to puree.

It looks gross, but it smelled just like stock. This could easily be buried in a compost pile. Which is better? That depends. Time wise, they both took minutes. The dry meal has to dry, but that's just sitting time. The wet meal has to compost. So the work is really a matter of now or later? The end product is different, compost vs a dry, storable bone meal. So it mostly depends what type you'd prefer. The nutrients get into the garden either way. Your personal tolerance for bones drying in the kitchen or the risk of pests in the compost pile factors in as well. Ultimately, though, both are easy ways to use those leftover bones and turn them into good garden food!

Happy farming!