Compost Tea is one of the most essential items and processes for sustainable agriculture. The potential is the use of yard waste and food waste from the house, to create Compost, to then create Compost Tea and then use it on your plants and soil, replacing fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. This is one of the many “closed loop” cycles found on a Permaculture farm. A closed-loop cycle is one in which all waste is used, or rather, valued as an additional product rather than waste. Chickens eat bugs helping plants, fertilizing the soil, and creating eggs for food; a very productive closed-loop cycle. Essentially, the permaculture farmer can produce a great amount of food (and even water and energy) without bringing in extra materials or goods from off-site.
Compost Tea creation is the process of aerating compost in water. This spreads and multiplies the beneficial micro-organisms through out the water, and allows the farmer to spray the compost tea on both leaves and soil. Spraying on the leaves creates a film that protects the plant from insect pests. Spraying the tea onto the soil helps spread the micro-organism into the land from which the plant feeds.
The process can be very simple, from throwing compost into a bucket of water and pumping air through it (to keep the micro-organisms alive and preventing the compost tea from going bad) to creating advanced recipes and using “tea bags” to add compost to the water.
Compost Tea is probably the most basic “Permaculture” technique to spread, and it is even most easily done through a few videos (one of the tenants of Permaculture is not to work when you don’t need to, and to make use out of resources as much as possible):
This Video Makes the Case Better than Anything I can write:
Here are a couple “how:to” videos to get you started:
Jack Wagner is the Editor of The Free Independent-Sun. Born in Sonoma, California and currently residing in San Francisco, Jack set up The Free Independent-Sun on July 4th, 2009, after sleeping in and not making his usual trip up north for his hometown festivities. He figured he'd do something revolutionary to make up for it. In the Summer of 2010 Jack registered Seraf Media with the City and County of San Francisco as a Sole-Proprietorship. He is dedicated to articulating the finer points of the Revolution in order to bring about a Global Renaissance and Abundant World Economy. He also isn't afraid to get his hands dirty transplanting succulents. 
I started composting over a year ago in a large rubbermaid container. I began with a supply of compost and worms that my friend shared with me from his set-up. I chop my vegetables and yard scraps up tiny for the worms to digest. I make sure it is kept wet by using the water off of vegetables that I have cooked and add dirt occasionally. There are holes in the lid (but lined with mesh so the worms don’t crawl out). We lined the bottom with burlap (from the coffee shop) and drilled a couple of holes in the bottom. I placed the bin at an angle over a container and the liquid drips into that container, creating compost tea!
Recently in moving my beautiful phicas tree it went into shock and was losing its leaves at an alarming rate. I originally had rescued the tree from being neglected in an office setting and had become quite attached to it. It stands about 8 feet tall. I gave it a dose of the compost tea and cared for it as usual. Within a couple of weeks the leaves had stopped falling off, they were gorgeous, healthy green and began filling out. It is now full and has withstood still another move, gracing my front porch with pride.
I use the tea in my houseplants and outdoor plants. It has proven to be an incredible food for them, simple to collect at virtually no cost.