Comments on: Compost, What Are You Waiting For?

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:04:30 +0000

Kristen- You can also use shredded newspaper &/ or torn up pieces of cardboard as the browns in your pile. It takes me through the winter months.

By: Tracy Balazy

Tracy Balazy — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:54:11 +0000

My husband built a backyard compost bin last year from scrap wood, and all of our yard waste and food scraps, coffee grounds, etc., go in there. We don’t eat meat, which solves that problem. I think this year we’ll buy some red worms to help the compost along.

By: Katy

Katy — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:27:53 +0000

Oldboyscout2,

I too was amazed by how incredible that article was, and that’s actually what I was going to write about today.

Katy Wolk-Stanley
The Non-Consumer Advocate

By: oldboyscout2

oldboyscout2 — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:46:26 +0000

Non-compost subject: The Portland OR’s main newspaper “The Oregonian” has ,written by Leslie Cole, one the best guides to smart food shopping I have ever read in the Tuesday Feb. 9 “FOODDAY” section . Most of the food being bought does not require hours and hours of prep .

By: Carla

Carla — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:32:40 +0000

I’m like El…..I live in a townhouse with no yard. In addition to all the work of schlepping my food waste outside (and into sub-zero midwest temps five months a year), I would also have to find someone to come and haul away the end product. No thanks. Katy’s story about finding Mickey’s cousin in her compost bin pretty much sealed the “I don’t want to compost” opinion with me (I don’t do well with the IDEA of rodents, let alone knowing that one might be living in my compost bin…..)

By: Jackie

Jackie — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:36:16 +0000

I have a compost bin that I add to all winter. In the fall I mow up and bag a bunch of leaves. Then I add these saved “browns” along with “green” kitchen scraps throughout the winter.

Not much action happens when it is cold. But any time it heats up a little, some composting will occur. If you layer browns and greens, stirring isn’t as important.

Ideally a compost pile would have plenty of greens, browns, moisture, and air and be turned frequently. But composting will still happen, just much more slowly, in less than ideal conditions.

By the way, my pile is frozen solid right now also.

By: Kristin

Kristin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:59:33 +0000

Ok, this may be a really strange question but I can’t seem to find the answer. I do not compost but want to start, my question is I live in ND and it is commenly well below zero throughout most of the winter so my compost is going to freeze into a solid block, our one day a week of above freezing temps is not going to thaw out my frozen block to allow me to turn it so I can’t imagine there is going to be much composting going on. And there are definetly no grass clippings or leaves to be found for many months. How do I compost throughout the winter in below zero conditions and with little to no “browns”?

By: Mary Anne

Mary Anne — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:23:04 +0000

I started composting in the late 1980′s and have had my own black bin and ‘stir’ from the beginning. It never smells but does not begin to accept all our yard waste. Fortunately, out county has an arrangement with a local landscaping company and favorable drop off hours from April through early January. I was puzzled by your comment on the chicken bones since I was taught that no protein, like a butter soaked baked potato skin or meat, should ever go in one of these bins. Vermin love that. The worst pest I ever saw in the bin was my least favorite living thing: a very long snake. After I finished screaming, my husband reminded me it was aerating the contents.

By: Maniacal Mommy

Maniacal Mommy — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:16:31 +0000

We have been composting for quite some time now. We recently upgraded our heap by using pallets (available for a buck a piece around here if you can’t get them for free) and wiring them together. Great for the garden!

By: EL

EL — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:26:18 +0000

Katy, I live in a condo, without any yard. and I can barely keep a plant alive. I certainly don’t need fertilizer for the one pot of scraggly greens that’s currently at death’s door, that I do have. So I guess what I’m waiting for is… what do I do with compost I don’t need? I figure I have to throw it out even if I make it. Put in that context, making it seems like a lot of unnecessary work. Won’t it break down in the landfill anyway? Do you have a better idea for me?