Streamlining Your Compost Production
June 12, 2007
Flickr Photo Credit: Joi
If you’ve never composted before, the process of incorporating the system into your home can be a bit daunting.
Two pieces of advice? Start small and keep it clean.
Let’s start with the small part. If you try to catch every little thing, shred every piece of black and white newsprint, separate every single toilet paper tube, you’ll lose your freaking mind. Set aside a container (empty gallon vinegar jug with a section cut out of the top across from the handle - free) on your kitchen counter and start with the things you would normally be tossing in the trash anyway. You are already used to tossing things here, so it’s just a matter of choosing the things that can be composted, such as vegetable ends, coffee grounds, banana peels and egg shells. I found it was much easier for me to build the consistent habit in the kitchen because it fit in easily with what I usually did there. Rather than running out to the compost stash every few minutes, my husband (or whoever was taking out the trash) took out the container each evening to empty it.
The only thing I might do differently once we get settled in here and start the process again is to invest in a compost crock with a sealable lift up lid. Fruit peels tend to attract fruit flies and that can be very annoying when you are trying to prepare a meal. On again and off again plastic wrap can be even more annoying. However, I still recommend the empty jug strategy to start with if you do not want to spend any money up front.
Next, it’s important to keep your compost area tidy and turned if you do not want to attract critters and rodents to your home. When we started trying the compost scene in Italy, we picked a spot in the far corner of our yard and David had to go out and flip everything regularly with a pitchfork to aerate it and mix the compost in with the dirt. While this is certainly effective, it can start to feel like way too much work way too quickly. This can sabotage the best intentions of a composter in a hurry.
One investment we made once we got to Arizona? A compost tumbler. To be more specific, we really splurged and got the “Compost Twin“. These tumblers come in various sizes, usually single. However, if you really want to get in to the process, I recommend the twin version. It’s an extra large barrel shaped device with two sections to hold compost materials. This way, as one batch is decomposing, you can start another batch in the next side. The entire apparatus sits on a support structure with interlocking gears. There’s a handle there so after you dump your daily compost in you can crank the barrel around easily. The compost is contained, there’s no back breaking pitchfork use, and when you’re ready, you can empty the material out into the wheel barrow below to use for your own gardening purposes. One thing we did not buy the first time (but I will be when the movers deliver it, I can assure you) is the screen insert that goes over the opening. This is used when you are emptying the compost out to catch the larger pieces of matter and filter them out. Trust me, you’ll want this. Picking out the larger pieces by hand is very time consuming and takes away from the benefit of the tumbler.
These tumblers aren’t cheap. We set aside monies from our tax refund in order to purchase it. But we were committed to the composting process and needed to keep the coyotes and mouse eating rattlesnakes out of our yard. So it was more of a priority to purchase the tumbler than it would have been in Italy. That being said, we’re so glad we have it. It makes things so much easier. If you actively use the soil produced from your tumbler, you can earn the money back in grocery savings easily.
Some things we’ve grown or fertilized using our compost? Oregano, parsley, dill, mint, tomatoes, chives, basil and sage. We’ve also used the compost around the bases of our mature trees to help them out. Flowers also respond well to this material.
A few things we actually put into our compost? Coffee grounds, egg shells, cardboard toilet tissue tubes, banana peels, apple cores, carrot peels, onion ends and more. This is not a complete list. Nor are we major experts in this field. We are merely sharing how we started to approach this process. Here’s a link to an online compost guide.