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My Composting Status

  • Yes, I have a compost pile for kitchen waste.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No, I rent and the land doesn't belong to me.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No, it's not allowed in my neighborhood.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No, it's too much work, and I don't have the time.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

Who has a compost pile?

7K views 54 replies 39 participants last post by  bigdufstuff 
#1 ·
I have 4 different compost piles. They are underneath some humongous spruce trees in my yard, so they are accessible to me, but not visible to the neighborhood. I use four different ones, and alternate to get better action. Also, I have a separate compost pile for pet waste. I compost most of my yard waste, and all our kitchen scraps (meatless of course).

At my previous residence, the compost was in the sun. I thought I'd have trouble composting in shaded areas, but no problem. In the sun, I found that I had to water it more often, otherwise it attracted a lot of ants. We're in a pretty dry area, so even have to water the shaded compost.

I've never purchased the composting worms. I have plenty of worms naturally, and the longer I compost, the more worms. If composting properly, you will have no odor problems. The problem most people have is that they either don't have enough space for the volume, or they're not mixing it well and occassionally turning it to infuse O2. It's the anaerobic action that tends to cause odors.
 
#30 ·
Yea, I give the birds my dogs fir in the spring - believe me, there is lots. The one that I shave is a portugese water dog and I don't shave her in the winter all that much so her first spring close shave produces a bag full. I have been composting hair for years. I have never seen the hair in the composted soil that comes out so I really don't know... But, I like to think that a part of us has become part of the earth on our property so even if we ever leave, there is still a part of us there.
 
#31 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noelson View Post

Yea, I give the birds my dogs fir in the spring - believe me, there is lots. The one that I shave is a portugese water dog and I don't shave her in the winter all that much so her first spring close shave produces a bag full. I have been composting hair for years. I have never seen the hair in the composted soil that comes out so I really don't know... But, I like to think that a part of us has become part of the earth on our property so even if we ever leave, there is still a part of us there.
Thats a cool way to look at it.
 
#32 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noelson View Post

I compost! I even compost my dogs fur as well as human hair ( I cut them both)
Fur and hair is great for composting. It builds the nitrogen levels of the mix.

Also, to another poster: If you bury the compost, most pets will leave it alone. We have a neighborhood fox who digs around in mine a little. He's pretty clean about it though - digs a little hole and noses around. I haven't taught him to fill the hole in yet...
 
#34 ·
I can't answer this poll because my situation is a bit different! I rent and don't have a yard. No houseplants, even, so an indoor compost wouldn't be a good idea (besides, my boyfriend would stress out about having it there).

The kindergarten teacher at my school has a worm compost. I save my kitchen goodies and feed the worms every morning.

Since I started doing that, it's AMAZING how little garbage I have!
 
#35 ·
I'm a stealth composter: my landlord won't get one for my apt. building & I complained to the town & they won't give one either.

I secretly store compost in my freezer in paper bags, then under cover of night sneak to homes with town-provided compost bins, where I dump my stuff.

I *refuse* to put food waste in the trash!!!
 
#38 ·
I'm a "I hope it biodegrates because I don't know what I'm doing" composter. I have tried a little this year to put some thought into it so that it will turn into compost, and I know that eventually it will, but I just sort of put leaves, food, dead grass, and paper (that is recycled and has soy ink) into a pile, and hope for the best.

I live in a house (I live with my parents still) with a yard though, so I have no objections.
 
#39 ·
The province I live in has something called Waste Watch, which is a system where citizens and businesses have to separate their garbage into waste, compost and recyclables. So, technically we have a compost section, but it gets picked up once a month. My parents used to have a compost pile in the backyard when we had a garden, but they don't grow anything anymore.
 
#41 ·
My father, who is a keen gardener, is compost mad! He thinks nothing of getting dressed in -40C weather to depost vegetable scraps in his composter in the winter. He even clears a path through the snow to get to it, and uses hot water to unfreeze the lid (our city subsidizes backyard "blackbox" composters.) He does thisnot for environmental reasons, just because compost is so good for his/our garden, and he never wants anything to go to waste (he grew during in the Depression).
 
#42 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by misq17 View Post

Is a compost supposed to have ants in it? I opened mine yesterday and there were a ton of the little suckers in there.
Are you dumping a lot of cooked food into your compost? It's also possible your compost does not have enough "brown" material: dry leaves, etc. Ants will go wherever they can find food, so it's possible. Just some of the stuff you put in is going to be taken away from your compost pile and consumed. I had a ton of beetles and larvae in last year's pile when I first started out. It all worked out in the end.
 
#43 ·
I don't have much in terms of cooked stuff in there, but I looked today and most the ants seemed to be gone.

I really emptied the bottom of my compost today for the first time in about 7 or 8 years and I got out two whole wheelbarrows of beautiful compost. I probably could have gotten a third, too. I was pretty surprised since I'm a lazy composter and I'm lazy about watering, turning, etc. I'm all inspired now!
 
#44 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by misq17 View Post

Is a compost supposed to have ants in it? I opened mine yesterday and there were a ton of the little suckers in there.
Ideally, no. If the compost is working right, the internal temperature should be too hot for them.

In another thread, Ludi recently noted that urine makes good fertilizer. It's also a wonderful addition to the compost heap because it is loaded with nitrogen (a big plant nutrient, and it encourages the composting process). I read an article a long time ago - it may have been in Rodale's Composting - that was about a lowland Maya group that composted chopped-up saplings and human urine. They were getting faster results than any of the commerical composting devices could even approach.
 
#51 ·
Well, I know this is a thread specifically for "who has a compost pile," but I thought I'd ask, since so many of you do, what is the real purpose of a compost pile? (I know this is probably a dumb question, sorry...)

I've had a compost pile for a while now at my house, and my family always had one wherever they lived, but we always had them specifically for the purpose of using the dirt in our vegetable gardens. It seems there's a much more important purpose for them that I'm apparently missing?

Thanks
 
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