#42 Make a compost bin {52 bites}

I was a freshman in college when I first discovered garbage service and garbage disposals. I stood, mouth open in wonder, as the truck pulled up, dumped the bin, and drove away. They do that every week? I asked, amazed. I was even more amazed when I watched someone stick food scraps down the sink (Isn’t that going to clog?!!) then click a light-switch and watch as the sink roared to life, grinding and growling and gobbling up that garbage.

Yes, I’ll admit: I grew up in the sticks. We never had garbage service or a garbage disposal. How? you ask.

Well, we separated our trash just like the city folk, except we didn’t have tin/glass/plastic, ours was morel ike: Burnable,  Non-burnable, and Slop bucket.

The burnable stuff, we burned. The non-burnable stuff … well, you know, I’m not sure what we did with it. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to know. But the slop-bucket, well that’s where you put all your food scraps, then you toss it all out into a pile of dirt to work into the ground and enrich your garden soil. There wasn’t a name for it, it’s just called dumping-the-slop-bucket.

But that sounds terribly hick-like, so now it’s called Composting and it’s wildly popular. (And I’m glad.)

So yes, we compost. 

It’s easy now on our little 2.5 acre faux-farm, but even on our old postage-stamp lot we enjoyed composting as well.  In fact, there we had the perfect set-up: Jeff built the composting bin right outside the kitchen window. I removed the screen. “Composting” involved opening the window and throwing food down the side of the house. LOVED THAT. I did that here but our kitchen window is not-quite-new and started breaking off the hinges. So now we have a little slop bucket and it’s our 5-year-old’s job to take it out to the compost bin each morning. LOVE THAT.

So, all this talk: Why compost? Obviously the main purpose is to get rich soil and better growing veggies. But honestly? Even if you don’t garden I still think composting is just a great way to get rid of garbage! You’ll end up with rich, dark, soil you can use for potted plants, flowerbeds, or a really awesome White Elephant gift next Christmas.

::How to make a compost bin::

We’ve done both of these kinds. Both have pros depending upon your digs and what you have on hand. Both are easy to make and inexpensive. (We never spent a dime on either one.)

1. Garbage-Can Bin (better for neighborhoods)

2. Wooden-Pallet Bin (great in the country)

If you’re gung ho and would like more information, I asked my friend Candi (From Candi’s 35 ways to save), who is my resident gardening-homesteading expert, to share her two cents on the subject. Happy Friday and thanks for reading, now go play in the dirt!

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::Composting with Candi::

Why compost?

The reason I compost is because I’ll do anything to be more frugal, organic, and more self sustainable. Composting saves on my garbage bill because I’m not throwing away hardly any yard debris (unless you have a weed patch), and I’m throwing a whole lot less food scraps in the trash. Composting saves me money when I garden because I use compost rather than buying, fertilizer or plant food and I don’t have to worry about my kids eating the ferilizer in the lawn. All the while I am relying less on the fuel burning, monthly bill of the trash man and I’m giving less money to all those crazy garden products, thus more self sustainable.

What makes up good compost?

You need a bit of everything, yard debris, food scraps, and “bedding.” Yard debris can be anything from your yard. You have to be weary of weeds or pesky plants you don’t want coming back. We had some crazy elm I didn’t want coming back in our last yard that I never put in the compost pile. Grass clippings, as long as they’re chemical free. Fallen leaves are awesome! Things that are hardier like sticks, twigs, and limbs will compost slower, but can still be used. Great yard debris ingredients is your garden when it stops producing fruit, just use all those dying plants as compost. We have had many volunteer plants grow out of the previous year’s compost. Such as a random tomato plant in the zucchini patch or a cucumber plant that comes up amongst the beets. Food scraps are the part of your compost that is really packed with nutrients. All fruit and vegetable scraps are great as well as egg shells (although, I’ve found egg shells compost slower). I’ve always been told to steer clear of animal products and oily things like cheeses etc. These items especially meat are more potent for pests such as raccoons to sniff out and wind up rummaging through your pile also animal products (like bones) tend to decompose much slower. I have heard good things about using chicken manure, but just as a rule would steer clear of all other types of manure as they can carry nasty diseases (ie. Ecoli). “Bedding” is primarily a term used in worm composting, but this is how I started and so I have grown a custom to adding some of it to my compost. Shredded newspapers and brown paper bags are best. I like what this does to control the moisture levels in your compost. I find that if your compost stays a bit moist (like a squeezed out sponge) it decomposes faster.

How long does it take to be usable soil?

Without worms compost can turn and be ready for use in my own experience once every six months to a year depending on your climate. Compost turns faster and is ready for use in warmer climates so long as it is kept moist. With the help of vermicompost worms or “red wrigglers” your compost can turn in half the time! We tried worm composting in a 32 gallon tub for a year. This was fun and especially interesting to watch those crazy worms multiply! We started with 50ish worms and in a year had well over 1,000! The gross part about this method was to get your ready compost out you had to sort through your old trash and worms. It was at this time that we were given a state of the art 3 level worm composter where the worms are supposed to eat the food on the bottom layer and work their way to the top so that once a month or so you would have an entire layer of worm free composted matter on the bottom of your composter. It didn’t work that way. This was great for separating done compost from not done compost, but we still had to sort out the worms. Just so you understand why this is so gross. Vermicompost is made when the worms eat your kitchen scraps and then poop it out. You are literally sorting through worm poop! To be honest sorting through worm poop didn’t really gross me out, I’m just lazy and grew tired of sorting out the worms. It can be a tedious task!

All this to say I find myself as a lazy composter. I still save just as much money, I think. My ideal vision of composting is to start a compost pile when you start your garden in spring, add to it and turn it all year round, and then each spring rototiller it into to your garden soil.

What do you use as a compost-container?

There a lot of fancy compost systems and containers that can cost you a lot of money. I prefer a large pile at the back of my property. We had a lot that was just 6000 sf (small sized city lot) and kept our compost in the back corner of our yard with no problems of smell or animals. The reason I have gone away from a fancy composter (after my fancy worm composter) is because I find we can produce a lot more compost materials than one of those expensive containers can hold. I also like to have a large garden (400 sq ft) and find one of these products, full doesn’t do a ton for my garden. One accompaniment to my large pile has been a kitchen bucket with a lid (the lid is necessary to avoid fruit flies) that I can add to daily. That way I only have to trek out to the far corner of the yard once a week or so. Even better is your kitchen window idea, where you can just pitch the compost straight outside!

All in all composting exists on many levels. From using worms to compost and using science to check the PH levels of your soil, or just pitching your scraps and yard debris in as I do. Or on an even smaller scale if you use a bag less lawnmower all those lawn clippings left out on the grass sink back down into the soil putting nutrients back into the soil; you’re composting too!