Only my husband and I would be crazy enough, in the dead of winter, to start composting (yes, this post is maybe two months late).
It came about a bit half-hazard (obviously), our yard has four massive trees, which in turn generate massive amounts of leaves that we bag up and send to the landfill.
We decided to keep some of the leaves, mulch them, and leave them in a pile. Said pile hung out for a while until we read up a bit on composting. Realized we needed to add those kitchen scraps to get the whole process going, my husband took one of my jamming pots that was gathering dust and boom, created a countertop composter (side note: we are not experiencing a lot of smell by not having a fancy, aerated composter. Maybe it would breakdown more with more aeration, but so far, the cheap solution is working for us.).
So then we started dumping kitchen scraps outside and burying them in the middle of the random leaf/grass clippings pile. Then I had a moment of panic. The rats. Remember that little rat problem? I didn't feel like attracting more rats with rotting food.
Post-Christmas gift card haul, hubby and I purchased a fancy tumbler.
Fancy Composter
And guess what, all our little scrap pile didn't fit. My husband, in all his ingenuity, decided to make some more compost bins with cheap trash cans, a drill, and a PVC pipe.
Now we have quite the system going on. One batch in the tumbler, and two batches on standby. The trashcans can be rolled, but I think it might be easier to just rotate everyone. Finish the compost in the tumbler. Then move trash can ingredients, tumble, repeat.
So far so good! No crazy smells, no rodents. We are having some issues with the compost freezing into a chunk of decaying matter. Maybe winter composting was not the brightest. But so far everything seems to be decaying and go about it's business.
I'll provide more updates as the weather continues to warm up!
It came about a bit half-hazard (obviously), our yard has four massive trees, which in turn generate massive amounts of leaves that we bag up and send to the landfill.
We decided to keep some of the leaves, mulch them, and leave them in a pile. Said pile hung out for a while until we read up a bit on composting. Realized we needed to add those kitchen scraps to get the whole process going, my husband took one of my jamming pots that was gathering dust and boom, created a countertop composter (side note: we are not experiencing a lot of smell by not having a fancy, aerated composter. Maybe it would breakdown more with more aeration, but so far, the cheap solution is working for us.).
So then we started dumping kitchen scraps outside and burying them in the middle of the random leaf/grass clippings pile. Then I had a moment of panic. The rats. Remember that little rat problem? I didn't feel like attracting more rats with rotting food.
Post-Christmas gift card haul, hubby and I purchased a fancy tumbler.
Fancy Composter
And guess what, all our little scrap pile didn't fit. My husband, in all his ingenuity, decided to make some more compost bins with cheap trash cans, a drill, and a PVC pipe.
Now we have quite the system going on. One batch in the tumbler, and two batches on standby. The trashcans can be rolled, but I think it might be easier to just rotate everyone. Finish the compost in the tumbler. Then move trash can ingredients, tumble, repeat.
So far so good! No crazy smells, no rodents. We are having some issues with the compost freezing into a chunk of decaying matter. Maybe winter composting was not the brightest. But so far everything seems to be decaying and go about it's business.
I'll provide more updates as the weather continues to warm up!
Comments
Post a Comment