Weekend Projects: Composting

Our weekend project this week is Composting. Now there are two different types of compost. You can buy it, or you can make it. I of course, prefer the homemade variety, for a few reasons. One, you're getting your compost from several sources. What you put into your compost, will determine what sort of nutrients and minerals it is composed of. We throw kitchen scraps, grass clippings, newspaper, old twigs and dry leaves and even my daily coffee grounds complete with the unbleached filters.

If you buy your compost, you'll need to visit your local home improvement store and while it's decent compost, it's likely to come from just one source like chicken, rabbit or horse manure.

Another benefit of making it at home is that you have it ready all the time. You get to control what goes into it, therefore if you only eat organic produce, and you don't use chemicals or pesticides on your lawn, you can guarantee it will be organic compost. It's also so easy that even if you only have half a green thumb, you can compost.

The first item on the list is to find a spot to compost. I have ours near our garden, behind a shed. Sometimes, I'd like to have ti closer to the door, because I'm lazy, but most days I'm in the garden anyway, I just truck out the compost daily, in the morning.

Next, you need to decide if you want to keep your compost in a container, or in just a pile in the yard. Ours is in a pile. There's nothing surrounding it, other than the fence on one side, and the shed on the other. If you choose a container, there are many fancy ones out there, but really, some 2x4's are all you really need to simply build out a square and toss the scraps in the middle.

Next start turning your trash into brown gold. You can toss in food scraps (plant waste only, no animal waste  like meat and dairy), coffee grounds, plain office paper, newspaper, cardboard animal manure (no cat, dog or human waste), I even toss in my daily tea bags. When you put in paper, remember, no magazine papers (the thick glossy kind) and nothing with colored inks. Only black ink. We take our scraps out daily, because there are six of us and we collect a lot of scraps. However, for a smaller family you can take out a couple times as week, or you can even freeze your scraps in the freezer so they don't get yucky, then when your bucket fills, dump it.

You can also turn the compost pile to speed up the composting process. To compost you need your scraps, water and air. Left long enough, a pile will compost on it's own with minimal watering. However, if you choose to go with a container, this is where having one becomes beneficial. You'll have to add in your water, but you can turn containers with some ease. There are special composting containers that have handles that you just crank it and the barrel turns. Or you can use a trash can with locking lids and just roll them around every once in a while. But, either way, if you turn the compost you'll get faster profits.

So this weekend, find a spot, and start composting! Your garden and taste buds will thank you :)