Do you bury your bones? - PaleoHacks.com

Do you bury your bones?

2012-09-28T16:16:39Z

I'm referring to bones from animals you've eaten, not human remains!

In the spirit of composting to nourish our soils and to keep plant matter out of the landfills, does anyone bury the bone remains of their meals to mineralize soil and keep waste down? If you do, then what guidelines can you provide, e.g. how deep to bury them, and how to keep the bones away from my German Shepherd until they decompose. (She gets lots of raw bones but I don't want her to chew on brittle cooked bones that could break and become sharp. And, I don't want her chewing on those really hard weight bearing ruminant bones.)

With composting veggies and burying bones I imagine many of us could keep our trash "footprints" fairly small.

Answer by Matt for Do you bury your bones?

2012-09-28T16:18:48Z

You can simply compost them if you like. Though if you Google 'composting bones' you'll find that about half the sources say not to.

Answer by Diane for Do you bury your bones?

2012-09-28T16:33:32Z

I wish I could compost the bones but we can't. Scavengers will be attracted by them and our compost is not hot enough to break them down. What I wish is that if you ordered a styrofoam cooler full of meat from some place like US Wellness you could send all the bones back to them in the styrofoam cooler.

Answer by PhysiqueRescue for Do you bury your bones?

2012-09-28T17:04:32Z

Bury the bones? I use them for ornamental jewelry and ceremonial purposes. I also post them around the entrance to my cave to mark the territory.

Matt
PhysiqueRescue.com

Answer by Jean for Do you bury your bones?

2012-09-28T18:20:54Z

In the UK you can put bones in the 'garden waste' bin and the men will collect them and they will go off to composting plants that make them into compost that you can buy back!

Answer by Happy Now for Do you bury your bones?

2012-09-28T18:34:24Z

For people who don't want to risk pets digging the bones up, attracting pests, or don't have much yard, there are microbial compost things you can actually keep in the house, that will break things like bone down efficiently, like the Bokashi one, which have not tried personally because we can put bones in our yard waste bin, but it sounds cool. http://www.bokashicycle.com/FAQ.html

If you do want to buy them in the yard, which I think is brilliant by the way, I would go with whatever your local ordinance is about burying animals in your yard, usually 3-4 feet down. You could also make your own bone meal by cooking the bones until they crumble, and just sprinkling it onto or mixing it into the soil.

Answer by Judi for Do you bury your bones?

2012-09-28T21:56:36Z

I never thought of that but I think it's a great idea and I'm going to start doing it. Thanks!

Answer by againstthegrain for Do you bury your bones?

2012-09-29T06:31:15Z

Yes! If you can't bury your bones please at least throw them in the yard waste or city compost! Also, CD, it's important to keep biodegradable matter out of the trash because it actually biodegrades much, much slower than it would in a compost pile (or even in a random pile of dirt). There is a garbalogist (a real profession, apparently) named Ed Humes who went excavating in several landfills and was able to identify 25-year-old guacamole! The anaerobic conditions of the landfill had prevented the guac from decomposing! You can read the article, which is fascinating, here: http://streetroots.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/trash-talk-the-average-american-produces-102-tons-of-garbage-in-a-lifetime/

I think how we treat our waste is an important aspect of Paleo.

Answer by Alex for Do you bury your bones?

2012-09-29T12:21:50Z

We live out in the country, and I do compost veggie scraps and egg shells. But, bones get tossed over the side of the hill, south of the house, where nature can do its thing.

Answer by tungane k for Do you bury your bones?

2013-05-18T21:47:20Z

I have burned bones in the fire - cremated them if you like, they burn down to ash and then i put the ash in the compost.