Seeking Info on Composting

Thanks for caring for the earth and teaching good values.

Composting is natural...things decay. Don't get stuck on expensive composters or rules.

1. Do you live in the country or city?

2. City, you will need a composter, to keep rodents out (though this is always possible) keep it as far away from the house as possible, yet as easy access to your kitchen door as possible.

Easiest thing, is to buy a large plastic or metal trash can, cut the bottom out. Now you have a composter. The bottom gets buried into the ground whatever amount will keep it stabe and allow microorganisms to mix with the composting feedstock. (3-8 inches in ground)

2. County any thing will do. If you aren't interested in harvesting the soil, an open pit where you just dump stuff is fine. Again, away from house, yet easy access.

YOu can use lots of things in the country, the open bottom trash can works, chicken wire fence in a circle, hay bails...

Basic rules

1. Balance, food needs to be balanced with yard scraps, Meat is ok in compost piles, though many urge against it, because it does attract rodents, and you should wait 2 years to use the compost if you use meat. That way all pathogens will be killed.

2. I use a 2 year system. The first year I make the pile. The second year I close it and let it sit, then the 3rd summer I'm ready to use.

Keep it simple. I put a limited amount of paper in mine, tea bags...

if you have more questions, ____@____.com

Hi S.,

It's really simple. Just add your yard waste. You should try to have close to equal parts of green waste (grass, etc) to brown waste (leaves, etc). The green waste is what starts the "cooking" process. You can also add vegetable kitchen scraps like banana and other fruit peels, etc. No proteins like meat or fat that will attract animals and rodents. Also, you need to keep the pile moist but not soaking wet, and "turn" or mix it every week or so. Oh, by the way, if you find any earth worms while you're digging planting holes, toss them into the pile; they'll make things decompose much faster. That's basically it. Let me know if you have more questions.
P.

http://www.compostguide.com/

A friend sent this link to me when I wanted to start composting...it was helpful.

I was just sent this site by a friend about composting. I am also going to try my hat at composting. I do not have much space, so these sound good. I hope this helps answer your questions.

Wanna Try?
Just a few of the items you can compost: bread, cereals, and pastas, coffee grounds and filters, eggshells, fruits and veggies, grass clippings, and most teabags.
Check with your garbage company, and see if it offers curbside bins for compost pickup.
EnviroCycle Composter - 5-gal composter for your garage or yard; just give it a spin for easy mixing and aerating ($169).
Worm Chalet - three-tiered worm-based composter; keep it in your kitchen if you collect the fresh compost from its spigot regularly. Also: worms ($159).
Kitchen Compost Crock - nifty, stinkless ceramic pot you can put on your counter or under the sink for collecting compostables until you get around to carting them outdoors ($24).
The Complete Compost Gardening Guide - new, easy-does-it guide, including DIY instructions for making your own compost bins ($14).
Compost Guide - everything you ever wanted to know about composting, and then some.
Compost This - UK site that lets you know what you can and can't compost (aubergine means eggplant, BTW).

I also want to start composting...as soon as I have a space cleared for it. Composting is very easy. Partially fill your compost bin/composting area with grass or leaves (try to keep the weeds out of the compost, otherwise you'll be growing weeds) and add your food waste (no meats/animal products) and regularly rotate and sift everything to get some aeration. Also, to keep your compost of smelling of rotten fruit, cover your kitchen waste with grass/leaves. It may take some experimentation but composting is an easy and inexpensive way to recycle and save money.

Hello, S.! First I want to commend you for your home schooling efforts. I am a home schooling mom of 2 soon to be 3. I LOVE being with my kids and teaching my values!

We started composting the end of last summer and we are the Dummie version. We may not be doing it correctly but boy is it working and the soil coming out is beautiful and we used it for our garden this year. We live in the country and have a 1/2 an acre. We set up 4 wooden plats and tied them to stand up leaving one corner untied so we can open it. We did this behind our shed so it wouldn't be an eyesore. We then covered the sides with chicken wire because the neighborhood dogs were getting into it, including our own dog, and this keeps them out. We started out with some dirt, grass clippings, and leaves. All our fall leaves went into this pile! We put all kitchen scraps except meat, bones, and foods that high in fat like cakes and cookies, and the like. All other foods, including coffee grinds, tea bags, shredded paper and newspaper go to feed my husbands worms!! That's what he calls it! The worms that are in the composting pile are huge! We have read about the covering and the heat, but when he turned it the other day, it was the most beautiful soil I have seen in a long time and it smelled really fresh like good soil. Based on your situation I would go online and do some research by just typing composting and do what is best for you. We don't cover ours with dirt each time because we are throwing stuff in it each day but about once a week or so, my husband will go out and put some leaves in it or dirt or grass and stir it up.

Have fun and why not use this as a good home school project!

We compost. If it's food, it goes in the food garbage which then goes outside to the compost pile. You can compost almost everything! Just make sure your turn the compost pile occasionally. In a short time, you'll have GREAT soil!!!!

If you have a dog, make sure he can't access it. We didn't think about that initially and my dog had a feel day eating old food (and then got sick).

We just jumped right in and 'did it' -- we grew tomatoes last year and had wire forms to wrap around the plants. My husband took 2 or 3 of these and formed a circular wire container that is about 3 1/2 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter. We put leaves in to start it out and were surprised at how quickly the leaves would settle - leaving a large area at the top for more leaves or for kitchen scraps. I keep a bowl handy in the kitchen for eggshells, coffee grounds, banana peels, etc. and take it out each day to turn the leaves and composted material and add the new stuff. Make sure you have a pitchfork or something similar for turning the material - it needs to be turned often to get everything worked into the center. The kids enjoy seeing the HUGE earthworms in the middle. Good luck!

Okay, this is the easiest way, maybe not the best, but its what I have time & money to do: I dig a trench at the side or end of the garden. I dump my garbage into the trench until it is almost filled, then I dig a new trench, covering the old trench with dirt from the new one, and start over, by the next year, I will extend my garden over the oldest composting spots.
Here is another way, much better and not too much harder:
Put up chicken wire around the desired area (I think about 3 ft diameter makes a good one family sized compost pile), about waist high. Buy some "S" hooks when you buy the chicken wire and make a swinging flap on one side big enough to get a heaped-full shovel through easily. Dump your compostable garbage, grass clippings, weeds, autumn leaves, etc. in this bin. By next summer, you should haver nice rich compost ready to shovel out through that bottom flap onto your garden.

We just recently started composting and it has been very easy. We bought our compost bin from the City of Raleigh for $32, which is cheap. It's nothing fancy but it does the job. It also comes with a little handbook that tells you how to do everything. It's been great. You can go on the website for the city to find out more about it. Good luck!

here in lexington you can get a compost bin made out of an old herbie. they are free and you can look on the solid waste website to see what dates they will be giving them away. we just started composting, and i was surprised at what a science it is. you have to have more brown stuff(hay, twigs, dry leaves) than green stuff(food waste, grass clippings etc.) and you have to turn it every now and then. make sure you do not put magnolia leaves or pine needles in, and also nothing fatty. no meat scraps, no bread that has been buttered or veg. that has been buttered. hope i helped, i just googled composting to get my info, you could try that.