Composting

We use composting in our gardens every year. It adds essential minerals and nutrients back into the soil. Growing food depletes the soil, and you have to add back to the earth what is taken out.
We compost all our kitchen scraps like onion peels, potato peels, coffee grounds, tea scraps among others. We keep an old speckle ware pot next to the stove. This way it is covered, and convenient to use. When it is full, we plop it out in the garden. In the spring it will be plowed in as we till the soil.
We also add manure to the soil. We use horse manure, because we have a neighbor who gives it to us. Some people swear by cow manure, but around here it costs more than loam. Not cost effective. You just have to let the horse manure sit for a year or more, and its fine.
Composting gives back to the earth what we take out.