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.
We have a compost bin outside, but we don't use it as much as we should. It's pretty much neglected, nobody waters or turns it and occassionally we dump more stuff in.
I collect for the greenwaste of the city though. I don't have yard waste, but kitchen waste goes into a bin that I give to a friend that lives in the city where they do collect. As a renter I don't have the option of a compost. I wish I could afford the one that sits in your kitchen and takes care of itself. Yet it's too much money for now.
Thanks for the reminder on composting. I've been letting my compost pile go and this spring, I am going to redo it. Got some good ideas from the earlier posts. I think I need to move mine because it's in a sunny spot and it does get really dry.
I've got a pile behind my shed that I throw all of my kitchen scraps and some yardwaste in. I've kind of got a second pile for yardwaste (pretty much I just pile up all of my leaves under one of my trees. I see my neighbors fill bags and bags of yard waste and ship it out every month. I just leave mine in a pile over the winter, and by spring, it's mostly gone.
I should maintain my food pile better, but I'm lazy. I just keep throwing scraps in and as long as it doesn't smell or attract too many critters (I've got chicken wire around it, then I'm happy.
I compost kitchen waste, the herbivore animal waste, and probably 85-95% of the yard waste (the rest, that doesn't fit goes to the community compost in the park.)
I have one but it is strictly for plant based materials, I wont even add left over bread or anything to it and living in a half Omni family it took some training to get everyone to understand that just because it CAN rot out there dosnt mean that I want it to.
Besides animal products attract bugs
Mine is real simple it is just in the back yard and I toss leaves and veggie shavings, cores, fruit shells like from melons etc and I never have an issue with oder or bugs other than rolly pollies , in fact my biggest issue is the dogs wanting to pop into it and eat it
Explain how our world is being over run by landfills. That landfills do not work because the material is packed to tightly together and no air can get in for the microbes that decompose matter. By creating a compost you are decomposing waste which would otherwise be tossed in a landfill.
Also if your parents garden the compost is great for that.
To start just find a spot in your yard that you don't mind dirt to pile up and start throwing all left over vegetables there. Pretty easy to do. I've always had a small bin (about the size of those large coffee cans) by the kitchen sink so I don't need to make a trip outside everytime I peel a banana. Then when the bin gets full dump it in your pile.
Don't have one but really want one. I highly doubt it'd go well with my mom. We have a pretty small yard. Lots of stray animals that would love to get into it. I may have to research some easy composting or something. I might be able to get her to let me have one.
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