Composting

I have been wanting to start a compost "pile" for quite some time now. It is very frustrating to me to throw things in the garbage that I know could be used for another purpose.

But the last time I tried composting my mom and I almost burned down an outhouse and a garage.

Kind of makes you hesitant.

But after following "The Frugal Girl" blog for a couple of months and especially after reading this post: Easy Composting and then clicking over to: Urban Composting



I decided that I should go for it.

Rubbermaid (well, the equivalent store brand) containers were on sale at Shopko for 50% off and I went and picked up the biggest one they had on stock. 45 gallons. Bob drilled holes in the top, on the sides and through the bottom. First I shredded a newspaper to line the bottom.

The next step was to collect the "browns".

Bob and Etta collecting some late falling leaves in the front yard.



In the bucket.



I had been saving veggie waste for a few days and tossed that in.



I am keeping the veggie waste in the sink in a plastic ice cream bucket (that has a lid) until it is full. I then dump it in the big container. After that I fill the bucket with water and dump it out on top of what I just added to the big container. I am not sure if I am doing everything exactly right, but am doing the best I can with the directions that I found.


We are keeping it in what used to be our outside dog kennel. That way the dogs (hopefully) can't get to it and some how chew through the plastic. Knowing our dogs, it really wouldn't surprise me if they tried to do that!



Right now I am not worried about the smell as it is still pretty cool (as in today I think that it got up to at least 60 degrees...) And I really am not too worried about the smell in the summer when the temp gets up over triple digits because, well, we live in Lewiston and I don't think my teeny little compost bin is going to compete with Eko or Potlatch.

I am hoping that this batch might be compost by the end of the growing season (late September) and can be added to Steve and Cathy's garden when they till it up. If not I'm sure that it will be ready to mix in before planting NEXT spring. My other hope is that I can add one or two more bins so that I can have compost in a variety of stages.

If you have any questions or comments about composting, please post. Don't know if I will have any answers but would love to know if I could be doing something different and/or better.