My Groovy Kitchen Composter

I think I've finally mastered it.  Last year and the year before that all I got was a stinking (and I do mean 'stinking') mess.  This year, thanks to this video: http://denbeath1.blogspot.com/2011/02/easy-indoor-composting-video.html   I have compost that smells like dirt and not rotting garbage!!!  I am so impressed that I feel the need to brag...I mean ...'share'.

This is my compost just after I've mixed it for this week.  I was shocked that it smelled like dirt, fresh dirt.  I dump my used coffee grinds in here every morning so I never need to add any water.

I know this might sound odd but I use scissors to cut veggie scraps up into tiny pieces, I also tear up paper scraps into strips then cut them strips up as well. They incorporate easier and degrade faster.

My onion that went bad is going to be beautiful compost

All mixed. I think I might need to start another bucket.

Covered with a dish towel to discourage bugs

My groovy, handy-dandy compost mixing spoon stands ready for the next mixing

 

Easy Indoor Composting (video)

 I find it so disturbing to throw away my used coffee grounds, apple peelings, carrot heads, etc. etc because it's the stuff rich, fertile veggie garden soil is made of....okay, so I'm weird.... but that's another story......anyway  I found this video and thought I'd share it with my fellow Old Hippies.

-Walt Whitman, from the poem "This Compost"

"Behold this compost! behold it well!
Perhaps every mite has once form'd part of a sick person-Yet behold!
The grass of spring covers the prairies,
The bean bursts noislessly through the mould in the garden,
The delicate spear of the onion pierces upward,
The apple-buds cluster together on the apple-branches,
The resurrection of the wheat appears with pale visage out of its graves,
The tinge awakes over the willow-tree and the mulberry-tree,
The he-birds carol mornings and evenings, while the she-birds sit on their nests,
The young of poultry break through the hatch'd eggs,
The new-born of animals appear-the calf is dropt from the cow, the colt from the mare,
Out of its little hill faithfully rise the potato's dark green leaves,
Out of its hill rises the yellow maize-stalk-the lilacs bloom in the door-yards,
The summer growth is innocent and disdainful above all those strata of sour dead."

-Walt Whitman, from the poem "This Compost"

More On Composting

Composting - helping you to Grow Your Own
Making and using compost is the cornerstone of organic gardening - if you want to 'Grow Your Own', there's no better place to start.

The finished product is rich, dark, crumbly and sweet-smelling. It is made of recycled garden and kitchen waste, and can also include paper products. It is used to feed and condition the soil and in making potting mixes. Around 40 per cent of the average dustbin contents are suitable for home composting so it helps cut down on landfill too.

Making compost is often considered to be complex but all you need to do is provide the right ingredients and let nature do the rest - however, a little know-how will help you make better compost, more efficiently.