[mamabearsoblessed]

I am looking to begin household composting for my gardens when we move to our little farm in Feb.

:

:
I've been researching lots, but am curious as to how it works for those of you who do the same
do you have a routine?
what sort of crock do you use in the house?
what about your main setup ~ outside?
Walk me through your daily compost life please! and feel free to spam me on crocks and bins

Thanks so much!! I'M SOOOO EXCITED!!!!

 

[AllyRae]

We actually do vermicomposting. We have a small stainless steal container by our sink that we put the scraps in, and then once every couple weeks, we put the scraps in the worm bin with some damp newspaper.

We do have to figure out where to keep the compost that's finished now that it's freezing cold and winter. I haven't really felt up to digging through the worms lately.

: But the whole system is pretty cool--I love when the worms eat the bills.

: They do a great job, and it doesn't smell at all!

 

[AllyRae]

Oh, and I forgot--the worm bin is just a rubbermaid tote with holes on it, sitting on 2 bricks (and the whole thing is on a rubbermaid tote lid). It all sits right in the corner of our kitchen.

 

[langyork]

I use a plastic coffee can. I let my son who is 8 take it out everyday to a pile. I put in all veg and fruit scraps, moldy bread, egg shells, and coffee grinds with the paper still there. When I clean out the fridge I always have a ton to throw out!

No fish, or meat or bones or dairy in there.

It makes my garbage much less yuckkyyy!!!! That is why I do it.

It should be easy. Just put the can on your counter, use the coffee lid if you want.

 

[choli]

Apartment dweller here, but I collect all my kitchen scraps in a biggish tupperware in the freezer and bring them to my friend's compost heap once a week. She says that it breaks down faster after being frozen.

 

[SinginMamaTo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by langyork I use a plastic coffee can. I let my son who is 8 take it out everyday to a pile. I put in all veg and fruit scraps, moldy bread, egg shells, and coffee grinds with the paper still there. When I clean out the fridge I always have a ton to throw out! No fish, or meat or bones or dairy in there. It makes my garbage much less yuckkyyy!!!! That is why I do it. It should be easy. Just put the can on your counter, use the coffee lid if you want.

This is exactly what we do. Plastic folger's coffee can! One under the sink. Empty ones on deck. We've cut our 'trash' down to almost nothin!!!!

:
As far as our 'system' out in the garden -- dumping. haha
Totally no system. All yard waste like leaves, grass, whatever. Then the kitchen scraps. Occassionally we go out with the pitch fork and mix it all up. That's it.
Just do it! You can't mess it up

 

[99lauren]

We use an enameled metal conainer that maybe you could use for flour or teabags or something. It has a cover. We empty it a couple of times a week.
I read somewher that ideal compost should be 1/2 green and 1/2 brown.
The green is kitchen scraps, grass clippings, "live" stuff.
The brown is dead leaves, straw, shredded paper etc.
Thats what we try to do, but not as an exact science...we don't get all crazy-like and measure everything.

The compost is always great to add to our garden in the spring.
Have fun!

 

[mamabearsoblessed]

Thanks for all the sage wisdom ladies!! I know I can always find what I need here

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I am excited~~ this is a great adventure for us and I can't wait!

I have lots of chicken and dairy goat questions and wll be back

.

Thanks again!

 

[Periwinkle]

* Ashes from the woodstove go straight onto the gardens (they blend in themselves when it rains)

* Kitchen scraps are stored in an old gallon-sized sherbet container under the sink. We used to have one of the cuter counter-top jobbies, but it was too small and I get tired of schlepping out to the composter in the backyard when it's raining or cold out. Plus it's one less thing on the counter.

* Grass is left on the grass when clipped. Leaves are mulched using a mulching attachment on the bagging mower and then spread directly onto the gardens.

* Sometimes if we have big scraps (carved pumpkins, watermelons, etc.) I just throw em in the garden whole. They break down fast and sometimes I get a nice surprise next summer.

 

[catballou24]

we are doing a lasagna garden this year, so most of our kitchen compost goes straight on as layers or into the chicken run for the gals!

we also mulch our leaves and shred paper for the layers as well. we do have an area in between the goat and chicken pens where we have a pretty good foundation pile going. for some reason it works over there. we don't water it much, it's not really in any sunlight to speak of (lots of trees shading that area), but it produces the best compost...haha

also, we found this last year that by putting our kitchen scraps in the run for the chickens, they not only get treats but produce the best dirt/compost! we've been mixing that in with sifted compost from the pile and it is just gorgeous..

in the house we have an old stainless steel pot that we put all the scraps in. i used to have an ice cream bucket but it finally broke..

i really want to put one under the counter though and clear up that little bit of counter space. so that will happen after we figure a way to put one in there with our water filter stuff that's under there now..

 

[lightheart]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SinginMamaTo2 This is exactly what we do. Plastic folger's coffee can!

.. maxwell house has one with a milk jug type handle, harder to wash out if you have slimy stuff, but easier to carry!

I keep telling myself I want something fancy, but I really like my coffee can, the lid loks in the odor and there are never fruit flies buzzing my kitchen counter!

My friend swears by her sherbert bucket

My system is ending and needing a big change... we are pretty rural now so I just do piles, sometimes fancy with wood, sometimes sorta fancy with wire, sometimes just easy with no sides and just a pile... we will put meat and dairy in ours, just dig into the pile and cover it up.. we don't worry about large predators like bears, i'm sure we get the occassional racoon or opossum, but our dog keeps those guys away for the most part.... we are moving to town... and so things will need to change because ... well I want to not offend the neighborhood this 1st year anyway! (we are keeping our property so come spring I will come back and harvest some of my finished compost for the new garden!)

 

[slsurface]

I reuse one of those plastic containers that fancy lettuce comes in for my kitchen scraps (but almost any container with a lid would work). I take it out every other day or so. I try to keep a stash of fall leaves to mix in with the kitchen waste. We have a very small yard and next to no grass, so I don't have grass clippings to add.

 

[MamaMonica]

We had a compost pile in town and also buried the icky stuff in a corner of the yard- like spagetti or other leftovers-- and the worms in the ground ate it- every Spring we dug up great compost. We had so many worms it was like an outdoor worm bin.

Now we have a spot back in the field where we dump everything- old pumpkins, prunings, just a pile far away from the house... I still bury food scraps in a spot in the garden.

 

[Ruthiegirl]

I confess to being the laziest composter around and I have a beautiful, prolific garden every year. So, here is what I do:

I mulch my garden beds with a heavy layer of straw every fall. And then I compost directly into the garden. You got it -- I just pull back the straw and dump the kitchen scraps in the garden. I do this year round, I do it in all of my garden beds, I make it simple and it actually gets done. I have tried bin composting and I now know that I will never, EVER turn my piles. I simply do not have the time or inclination.

Google Ruth Stout and her no till method. I love it.

 

[GardenStream]

I have a 4'x4' pile outside. It's just a wire fence, that runs around 4 metal fence posts. It's about 4 feet tall too. I don't have a lid or anything on it and it's one the far side of the house (where we don't spend much time).

I wanted it close to the house because I don't like to walk very far when I have to dump the compost bucket. I decided that I would be dumping the bucket every day or two, but only move compost to the garden a couple times a year. So, my compost is actually on the opposite side of the house as my garden. Also, the garden is where we spend a lot of time and is on the main drive up to the house. I wanted the compost hidden from view as much as possible.

I have an old ice cream bucket (I think it's a gallon) that sits in the corner of my counter. I put everything I can in there. Then, when it gets full I take it out and dump it. In our family of 4, it takes about 2 days to get full. I also don't have any type of cover on my compost pile because we don't have animals come up near our house. We have rabbits and deer, but I have never seen much else. We sit on 8 acres of an old farm field, but my mom has 3 acres in the woods. She has to keep a lid on her compost or else groundhogs will get in there and start eating.

 

[Village Mama]

I use a pottery casserole dish on the counter for the daily compost bits. The nice pottery looks really pretty ... I fill it when prepping for meals and it it is easy to acess for the kiddos with thier fruit peels/ cores. At the end of the day I transfer the goodies to a plastic bucket. My folks give thier dog a type of dog biscuit that comes in a heavy duty red square plastic bucket with a lid(colourful and heavy duty which I like!)... they always have extra when we go visit , so I take them for all sorts of useful stuff. I take the big bucket out weekly and rinse it with the hose. If it is getting particularly rank I switch buckets and leave the stinky one out in the rain/ sun for a couple of weeks. That seems to make it doable again!

 

[~Boudicca~]

I just have a big pile at the edge of my yard. I have a little step-pedal garbage can that has a bucket inside with a handle. It stays on my countertop and I dump it once every few days.