I saw in the newsletter a blurb from someone saying they use a small trash can under their sink and put organic trash in it and their mother said they can just bury it in their garden as a fertilizer. I am really interested in doing this (as opposed to the huge compost pile deal of turning it and adding water, etc). Does anyone know anything about this?

I don't mind storing compost waste in a small container by my kitchen sink until I can carry it outside, but I'm not keeping a container under the sink - even a covered one - because I don't want to attract bugs and other creepy crawlies. I carry or throw my food waste outside all the time. Sometimes I'm just feeding the birds or squirrels. Sometimes I really want it to compost and I'll carry it all the way out to the planting beds. One year I composted all our used coffee grounds, paper filter and all. I thought it was going to be awful with having to turn the soil over and deal with paper remnants while gardening but by the time the next spring rolled round there was no sign of any filter paper anywhere.

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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

I've been thinking about composting. Can you tell me some more? Like can I use a trash can or something? How do you get started?

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Mommy to Hope (10.10.06)
Monkey mommy to Allyson (10.13.02)

I have two composts:

one is in a large drum that I turn everytime I put something in it.

the second one is on the ground I took fencing on all four sides and put grass, leaves, peelings of potatoes, carrott, egg shells, coffee grounds, paper shedding, anything that is NOT FAT OR MEAT that is what draws rats. Then once or twice a week you need to turn the pile, so the top is on the bottom and bottom is on the top. Buy next srping you will have a very rich soil that you can use in your garden.

Does anyone know exactly what you can't put in a compost pile? I saw that you aren't suppose to put meats in there becuase it will attract pests. But I've also heard that there are other things that you are not suppose to put into a compost pile, because it won't be good for your plants even after it decomposes (if you plan on using it in flower beds, garden, etc).

Does anyone know what these foods are?

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Sarah

We have a compost drum (big rubbermaid type container). We turned it into a worm farm. You start out with a little dirt, leaves, etc. compiled with lots of shredded computer paper. You put a lot of red wigglers in there. You then save your organic matter (we don't put fat, meat nor a lot of fruit in there. Mostly coffee & its filter, eggshells, veggie matter, or potatoes. The casings from the worm are like gold for your garden. We just started this a few months ago, so I'll have to keep you updated. Supposedly, you can take a pair of old pantyhose and put some of the compost in it. You then drop this in your watering can and as you handwater your herbs, etc, it will filter through the compost in the pantyhose and really give it a boost. Just google worm farm, worm compost, etc and it will tell you all about it.

So far it really looks good and you won't believe how fast the worms eat through the organic matter. It really is pretty amazing... I know, I know, worms seem like a bit much.

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God bless you and your day!
Just clay,
Rosemary
ray:

I have a kitchen composter and a large garden composter. I got the kitchen composter from Canadian Tire but you can also get them (I believe) from Lee Valley Tools. They are based in Canada but will ship to the US (not Canadian tire though).

My kitchen composter looks like an ice bucket. In fact, you could use an ice bucket if it was stainless steel and has a good top. I first line it with a plastic produce bag or old bread bag, and then I line it with a 'bio' bag that is made of corn and decomposes in hours. Yes, hours!

I keep the bucket (which actually looks quite chic) by the side of the sink. If it is hot out, every day I empty it in the large outside composter. If it is not hot, I let it go until it is full. Then I pop it in the dishwasher on sanitize and then start all over. I Love it!!

I put in there: All vegetable peels, scrapings, etc. Except corn cobs that do not decompose well. Eggshells, coffee ground with the (unbleached) filters, ends of bread, actually anything except any kind of animal meat, fats/butter/etc. are also no-no's, and no dairy! But everything else goes.

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Bumping up

I've been doing the worm composting thing for a year now, and it works great. I just have them in a rubbermaid tub in the kitchen. It doesn't smell (people don't know it's there unless I tell them) and the worms can eat 1/2 pound of vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, etc. per day. We live in an apartment, so outdoor composting wouldn't work for us.

A 1/2 pound of scraps a day? Wow! I've been thinking about doing this. So what do you do when you go on vacation or something. Say you're going to be gone a week? And how much vermicompost (don't know if I spelled that correctly) do you get, say in a weeks time?