Living Colorado ruled out vermicomposting for me, since they have a narrow temperature range (40-70deg) and according to many sites require garage storage in the cooler months... that is if you don't want to buy new ones each year. Too much work and I don't feel like sharing my pain cave with worms. I also considered a tumbler vs a bin... and after reading the pros/cons of each felt that a bin was ideal for my busy schedule. I only have to turn or aerate the bin occasionally compared to a tumbler. Also after speaking with several friends who have piles, those with bins seem to have greater success than those with tumblers. So bin it is.
Getting Started
After assembling the bin (very easy), I lined it with about 2 inches of a high carbon material (i.e. straw, twigs, leaves, hay, peat)... I chose peat because I had a gargantuan bag of it already. I also noticed that most readily available straw is wheat and since I have celiac disease decided not to risk exposure (no matter how minimal it might be). I couldn't find any info about whether or not gluten gets broken down in the composting process... I'd be interested if anyone knows (that is assuming anyone reads this blog!). Then I added about 2 more inches of organic mushroom compost on top of the peat. Next I put my kitchen scraps in (currently being stored in an old protein powder container) and covered them with the mushroom compost. We'll see how it goes.
Here are some tips for composting that I compiled during my research. Compost consists of four main elements (or compounds):
- materials high in carbon are referred to as "brown" materials
- C materials help dry out your pile if its too wet/moist
- C materials also reduce odors
- microbial oxidation of C produces heat, which aids in the process
Nitrogen (N): provides the microbes their dietary protein
- materials high in N are referred to as "green" materials
- N materials help add moisture to your pile if its too dry
Oxygen (O): aids in the decomposition process and is required for oxidation of C
- turning or aerating your pile helps keep the decomp process aerobic
Water (H2O): pretty self explanatory... everything organic needs water
If you read about an item's C:N number, this is the ratio of Carbon to Nitrogen content in that item. For example, pine needles have a C:N of about 60-110 which means that there are ~60-110 parts of Carbon to every one part of Nitrogen. Vegetable matter has a C:N of ~15-25, so you guessed it... there is a higher Nitrogen content in veggies than pine needles.
Here is a brief list of the items that are acceptable to put in your compost bin (mostly, limited to what I will be adding).
Green In-Crowd (high in N):
- Kitchen waste: fruits, vegetable matter
- Egg shells (crushed)
- Tea bags (without string, tag, staple)
- Coffee grounds
Brown In-Crowd (high in C):
- Peat moss (Canadian only)
- Leaves
- Pine needles
- Twigs
Since I don't have a yard, I will not be adding (dry) grass clippings but they would go in the brown in-crowd. Some sites also say it is ok to add newspaper... but when considering that the chemicals from the ink, printing process, etc would be broken down, absorbed by my garden plants, and therefore added to my food source, I decided no thanks!
And here is a short list of the items you don't want in your pile:
Rotting No-No's:
- Animal products (this is not a vegan thing) meat, fats, bone, fish, dairy
- Cooking oil
- Wet grass
- Pet waste
That about covers day 1 of composting for me. Rot on fellow composters!
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