Best Ever Compost

Just Follow the Recipe!

Composting is like baking a cake. Simply add the
ingredients, stir, "bake," and out comes -- compost!

Whether you compost kitchen wastes or yard and
garden wastes, there are a few basic steps to
follow. Here are the necessary ingredients and
general directions for composting.

 

 

Ingredients

KITCHEN COMPOST
Add a mixture of some or all of the following
ingredients:

·  vegetable peels and seeds

·  egg shells

·  fruit peels and seeds

·  nut shells

·  coffee grounds

·  any other vegetable or fruit scraps

Note: (Do not add meat scraps, bones, dairy
products, oils, or fat. They may attract pesty
animals.)

YARD OR GARDEN COMPOST
Add a mixture of some or all of the following
ingredients:

·  hay or straw

·  wood chips

·  grass clippings

·  weeds and other garden waste

·  leaves

·  manure

·  ashes

·  shredded paper

·  sawdust

 

 

Directions

1. Choose a "pot" for baking your compost. Any type of composting bin will do.

 

 

 

 

2. Place kitchen or yard wastes into the composting bin. Chop or shred the organic materials if you want them to compost quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Spread soil or "already done" compost over the compost pile. This layer contains the microorganisms and soil animals that do the work of making the compost. It also helps keep the surface from drying out.

 

 

 

4. Adjust the moisture in your compost pile. Add dry straw or sawdust to soggy materials, or add water to a pile that is too dry. The materials should be damp to the touch, but not so wet that drops come out when you squeeze it.

5. Allow the pile to "bake." It should heat up quickly and reach the desired temperature (90° to 140°F, or 32° to 60°C) in four to five days.

6. Stir your compost as it bakes if you want to speed up the baking time.

7. The pile will settle down from its original height. This is a good sign that the compost is baking properly.

8. If you mix or turn your compost pile every week, it should be "done," or ready to use, in one to two months. If you don't turn it, the compost should be ready in about six to twelve months.

 

9. Your "best ever compost" should look like dark crumbly soil mixed with small pieces of organic material. It should have a sweet, earthy smell.

10. Feed compost to hungry plants by mixing it with the soil.
 

 

Compost Yourself!

These are the words to a song written by Lee Hays, a member of the Weavers, a folk group who sang in the 1940's and 50's and were blacklisted during the McCarthy era because of their "unAmerican" ideas.

 

If I should die before I wake,
All my bones and sinew take;
Put me in the compost pile,                                       
And decompose me for a while.

Wind, water, rain will have their way,
Returning me to common clay!
All that I am will feed the trees,
and little fishes in the seas.

On radishes and corn you munch--
You might be having me for lunch!
And then excrete me with a grin--                   
Chortling, "There goes Lee again!!"