✔ For Composting – Sprinkle into your compost pile to balance nitrogen and carbon
✔ For Soil Enrichment – Mix directly into garden beds or base of plants to improve structure and fertility
✔ For Potted Plants – Blend lightly into potting soil for added nutrients

How long does it take to see results?

✔ In compost piles: Helps accelerate decomposition within days to weeks
✔ In garden soil: Improves structure and moisture retention immediately
✔ For plants: Visible health benefits within a growing season

How is this different from regular compost?

The Velveteen Bean is a compost accelerator—it doesn’t replace compost but enhances and speeds up the process while also enriching soil when used directly.

Currently available for local pickup and delivery, direct inquiries, and soon, local retailers. More details coming soon. 

This blend provides the perfect ratio of nitrogen and carbon, supporting microbial life and speeding up decomposition for healthier, more balanced compost.

Yes! The Velveteen Bean can be added directly to the garden, beds, containers, and even most house plants! To improve soil texture, retain moisture, and enhance plant growth naturally. 

You can also use it as a mulch that breaks down faster, great for soil amendment. 

You can also use it to de-odor your counter-top city compost! (pro tip: you can also just keep your city collection compost in the freezer to prevent bugs and smell!) 

The Velveteen Bean is made from carefully selected, upcycled ingredients that would otherwise go to waste.

🐇 Bunny Manure – Sourced from local bunny rescues, ensuring clean, healthy manure that’s naturally high in nitrogen and safe for gardens. These bunny are very well cared for by passionate people.

☕ Used Coffee Grounds – Diverted from local cafés and roasteries, keeping valuable organic material out of landfills and putting it back into the soil.

🌾 Straw & Sawdust Pellets – Sourced from clean, untreated materials—free of harmful chemicals like Grazon (a persistent herbicide) and never from construction waste or chemically bound pellets. They are first used as the bunny bedding and litter!

🌍 Commitment to Sustainability – Every ingredient supports a closed-loop system, repurposing organic matter to enrich soil while reducing environmental impact.

A common issue in compost is having too many “greens” (like kitchen scraps) and not enough “browns” (like dry leaves or straw), which can slow decomposition and create odors. The Velveteen Bean blend naturally balances compost by adding carbon-rich sawdust pellets and straw, helping to absorb excess moisture and speed up the breakdown process. Compost piles that are too wet or unbalanced can see improvements within days after adding the blend.

Yes! This blend is gentle, all-natural, and free from synthetic chemicals, making it safe for vegetables, flowers, houseplants, and more. Safe for gardens with pets and kids, all non-toxic. 

No! It smells great (to most). Unlike some animal-based fertilizers, bunny manure has little to no odor, and the other ingredients help absorb moisture and keep it fresh. Think earthy, grassy, woody, coffee-ish.

Yes! The Velveteen Bean diverts organic waste from landfills and returns valuable nutrients to the soil, supporting sustainable gardening practices.

"Compost Starter" → Helps kickstart the breakdown process for compost piles.
"Soil Booster" → Adds nutrients and balance to existing compost or soil

1️⃣ Lack of Oxygen = Methane Production

In a healthy compost pile, microbes break down organic matter aerobically (with oxygen), creating nutrient-rich soil. But in a landfill, waste is packed tightly under layers of trash, cutting off oxygen. Instead of composting properly, organic matter decomposes anaerobically, producing methane (CH₄)—a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than CO₂ at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

2️⃣ Wasted Nutrients

Organic materials are full of carbon, nitrogen, and essential minerals that could be feeding soil. Instead, when they sit in landfills, those nutrients never return to the ecosystem—essentially locking away valuable resources that could be regenerating soil and growing healthier plants.

3️⃣ Landfill Leachate = Water Pollution

As organic waste breaks down in a landfill, it creates a toxic liquid called leachate—a mix of organic acids, heavy metals, and other pollutants. This can seep into groundwater or run off into waterways, harming ecosystems.

4️⃣ Landfills Are Not Designed for Composting

Many people assume food and yard waste naturally breaks down in a landfill, but that’s not the case. Studies show that landfill bananas, newspapers, and even whole carrots can remain intact for decades because of the lack of oxygen and microbial activity.

The Solution? Composting & Closed-Loop Systems

When organic materials are composted instead of trashed, they:
✔ Break down naturally without methane emissions
✔ Return nutrients to the soil instead of being lost
✔ Improve soil health, making it more resilient to drought and erosion
✔ Support microbial life, which is key to carbon sequestration and climate stability

The Velveteen Bean helps close the waste loop by keeping valuable organic material out of landfills and back into the soil—where it belongs. 🌱♻️

City composting is an amazing advantage some cities provide. Any compost program is better than none! We are lucky that California is making great strides in these programs.

However…we can do better. Municipal compost programs where yard waste and food scraps are collected, processed, and turned into large-scale compost. While this system helps divert organic material from landfills, heat-treated (or industrial) compost has some key drawbacks:

1️⃣ Kills Beneficial Microbes & Fungi

Industrial composting facilities use high-heat methods (typically 130–160°F) to speed up decomposition and kill pathogens. While this eliminates harmful bacteria, it also destroys beneficial microbes and fungi that naturally enrich soil and help plants absorb nutrients. A diverse microbiome is essential for healthy, living soil, and heat-treated compost often lacks these essential organisms.

2️⃣ Potential for Contaminants

City compost programs accept yard waste and food scraps from thousands of sources, which can introduce:
🚫 Persistent herbicides (like Grazon) from treated grass clippings and straw, which can stunt or kill plants even after composting.
🚫 Plastic and synthetic residues from produce stickers, packaging, and chemically treated materials.
🚫 Heavy metals from urban waste sources, which can accumulate in soil over time.

3️⃣ Over-Processed, Less Nutrient-Dense

Because municipal compost is processed for uniformity and large-scale distribution, it often lacks the rich diversity of organic matter found in homemade or small-batch compost. It may contain fewer nutrients, less organic structure, and less microbial life, making it less effective at improving soil health over time.

4️⃣ Loss of Carbon & Soil Structure

Many heat-treated composts become fine, dusty, and overly processed, breaking down quickly without adding long-lasting organic matter (humus) to the soil. This means it doesn’t improve water retention, aeration, or long-term soil fertility the way compost with coarser, unprocessed materials does.

The Alternative? Small-Batch, Cold-Processed Compost Boosters

Products like The Velveteen Bean work with natural soil systems instead of against them. Because it's made with cold-composted bunny manure, straw, and coffee grounds, it retains:
✔ Beneficial microbes & fungi for healthier soil
✔ A balanced carbon-to-nitrogen ratio for natural composting support
✔ No synthetic chemicals or persistent herbicides. Small batches means we see what goes into every bag.
✔ More organic structure to improve soil texture, aeration, and water retention.

By skipping the industrial heat treatment, The Velveteen Bean helps compost and soil stay alive, resilient, and regenerative—just as nature intended.