At Long Last, Compost
July 5th, 2013 · No Comments · Posted in farming
A simple set of compost bins is easy
For two years after we sold our big house with the kitchen garden just two miles from the White House, my wife and I were ridden with guilt because we no longer had a place to compost. We sent our kitchen scraps to the landfill like most other good Americans.
But now that we have our own farm property in Upstate New York, we can compost again to our heart’s content. One of the first things I did after moving here was set up a simple, three-bin composting system. It’s easy to do with a few basic materials from the hardware store. Pound metal stakes into the ground and surround them with wire mesh. All you need is something to hold your pile together. The minimum size is three feet by three feet by three feet.
Line your three bins side-by-side. Why three? That way when you fill a bin on one end you can start a second pile in the bin on the opposite end and use the bin in the middle to alternately turn your piles. It’s a good idea to turn your compost occasionally to make sure the microbes doing the decomposing are getting enough air.
There’s nothing complicated about making compost. You just need to layer “green” materials, such as lawn clippings, with “brown” materials, such as old leaves or straw. I find it easiest to mix these approximately in equal measures by weight–or what looks about equal to my eye. Too much “green” and your pile could get too wet and start smelling like garbage. Too much “brown” and your pile will take much longer to break down. Some people like to manage their piles excessively to get the fastest possible compost. Others just dump their refuse in a pile and let nature take its course.
Add water when needed to keep your pile just a bit moist.
When we fill a bucket with kitchen scraps, we just make a hole in the pile with the forked spade, dump the scraps, then cover them up again. Anything organic–meaning anything that was ever alive–including apple cores, dryer lint and cotton underwear, can be composted. Out here in the country, farmers compost their dead animals. Of course, their compost pile has to be large enough to accommodate a dead sheep.
In a few months, you should have “black gold” for your vegetable garden. Compost truly is the closest thing to a magic elixir for growing vegetables. And you’ll feel so good about yourself for not adding to the nation’s landfill problem.
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