Who Knew? International Compost Week

This is from the "who knew?" department. It's International Compost Awareness Week. I realized that cruising around a site in Australia of all places, then found a link here about events in the United States running this week.

I get asked a lot of questions about compost, since I have a bin in my yard and we compost all plant waste from the kitchen.

Does it smell?
No, if your pile smells like rotting vegetables you are doing something wrong. Most likely, you have added too much "green" waste, such as fruits and veggies, and not enough "brown" waste, like leaves and hay. You need roughly equal amounts of both. What I do is throw down a layer of leaves saved from the fall then put "green" waste over the leaves, then cover the whole lot with a few shovel fulls of soil. It's also a good idea to throw in some existing compost, if you have it, to stimulate the biological activity. Then water the pile so that is has the consistency of a damp sponge. If it's too wet, the green matter will rot. If it's too dry, it won't decompose. As the bin fulls up I mix it with a shovel every week or two.

Does it attract rats?
I have a closed compost bin made of hard plastic. I have never seen a rat anywhere near the bin and I've been composting in the middle of DC for four years.

Does it take a lot of time?
Once you get into the habit, making compost is like taking out the garbage or putting out the recycling. It's just something you do. So no, it doesn't take a lot of time.

It's spring and I didn't save any fall leaves. What should I do?
You can still build the pile with hay. You can try newspaper but I found it took too long to break down. Same with sawdust and any woody matter, which I avoid. Buy a bale of hay if you can, or run to your municipal compost operation and pick up a few bags of leaves.

I don't have space but still want to compost. Can I compost inside?
You can investigate worm composting. I have not tried the technique but know it works. The classic text for this is Worms Eat My Garbage. And speaking of worms, that last picture shows a tiny earthworm I pulled out of the bottom of the bin, which was teeming with the critters.

So what do I do with compost?
Grow plants!

If my chatty instructions on making compost leave you dumbfounded, then check out Ed Bruske's video series about making a compost pile. It's a good introduction for the beginner. The one below is just the first in the series.

- Samuel Fromartz

Comments

[MamaBird/SurelyYouNest]

So, I have a tumbler that looks an awful lot like yours except there is no trap door like yours has at the bottom. I am assuming that you keep filling from the top and the finished compost ends up down low? So I guess I will have to wait for my whole tumbler to be done at once. Do you have multiple tumblers? What happens if you fill up your tumbler? Do you have to stop composting your green food scraps for awhile? Do I need to buy compost 'starter' to get mine going? Is it problematic that I see mold or something white and hairy growing on my pile? Methinks I need some hay or leaves. Thanks...a composting neophyte in DC.

[Janet]

I can hardly wait to tell my sister about compost week. She is so proud of her new composter that she takes people out to show it off. In addition to kitchen waste, leaves and so forth, I throw coffee, filters and all, into my compost. The paper filters seem to compost just fine. The only things that come out intact are fruit pits.

[Sam Fromartz]

Mama Bird, not sure what you mean by a "tumbler." There are composters that you can rotate, which breaks down stuff faster.

Mine is a "bin," which is top loaded. To really get the biological activity going it's got to be almost full. Then I stir it up at least weekly. The nice compost migrates to the bottom (since the particles are more fine). Then I can take it out of the door. Sometimes though I just move the entire bin, shovel off the bigger matter on top to the side, then take the remaining finished compost. The reason is that door can be too small to remove all the finished compost.

I wouldn't waste money on compost 'starter.' If you have mold I would stir up the pile, add dirt and hay and leaves.

And Janet, I do compost coffee grounds to, though I have found it's faster if you rip up the paper coffee filters by hand before they go in the bin. Tea bags compost well too, though I remove the staples. The loose tea I drink is actually from a bio-dynamic farm in India, so I feel as if I'm adding foreign karmic biological activity to the pile! I've also dumped old whole grains on the pile and had wheat sprout out of it. That adds fresh green matter I turn back into the pile. It also tells me this compost is good.

[Laura Cherkas]

Hi Mr. Fromartz,

I checked out your blog the other day, and saw that you include some great book suggestions. I work for Chelsea Green, an eco-friendly publisher located in Vermont—we publish books on “the politics and practice of sustainability”—and I was wondering if you’d be interested in reviewing any of our books. A few recent titles that might interest you:

Renewing America’s Food Traditions; by Gary Paul Nabhan; http://beta.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/renewing_americas_food_traditions

Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power; by Mark Schapiro; http://beta.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/exposed:hardcover

I’m also including a link to our catalog http://www.chelseagreen.com/about/tradeinfo/DownloadCatalog —we’ve got a ton of fantastic titles in print and would love to get the word out on them! Take a look, and if you think you might like to review any titles, let me know and we’ll send you review copies. Thanks so much for all you do!