Compost Bins

Well, here are my compost bins! Not pretty to look at, I agree, at but they are extremely utilitarian and functional. Note the holes drilled in the side! Note the 1/4" hardware cloth wrapped around the bins to keep out critters and to let some air in!

These two bins are the ones I use to compost all leftover, unused and uneaten food, including meat and bones, dairy, grease, cakes and cake icing, moldy bread, all cooking and baking disasters, etc., etc., etc. You get the idea! Everything, and I mean everything, goes in. In a previous post, I even admitted that I put some water into an empty jar of salsa or an empty container of salad dressing or even mustard, swish the water around with the lid on, of course, and this solution is also used in the compost. Remember that I am one of those people who believes that if a human being could or can eat it, then it can be composted. I cannot imagine ever going back to tossing out moldy bread into the garbage.

I layer my kitchen waste with shredded newspaper, garden soil, brown snow (aka redwood tree needles), and, sometimes, steer manure. This is a compost that never really heats up and I never turn it. I have taken the top off and found tons of fly maggots working on the contents and with some minor digging into the pile, I have discovered tons of fat worms doing their bit. I guess I have created essentially worm bins here. The extremely raw, if you will, compost goes into the bin with all of the holes in it to let in extra air to reduce odors. Then, when I think it has broken down after many weeks, I use a small garden fork and transfer the contents of that bin into the bin with the smaller number of holes. I still do not turn it, the worms keep working on it, but the maggots have usually disappeared or are no longe alive. The second bin holds onto these contents until the first bin is ready to be emptied out again. Now, I use to take the contents of the second bin and toss them onto an open air compost pile I had lying on the ground. But since I have discovered tree roots growing up into these piles, I have decided to pile the second bin's contents directly into the garden for little bit more decomposition. Then I will spread it around. It looks great, but I have found that egg shells are still visible, bones that have been stripped of their meat and fat are still around, and to my ongoing shock, avocado skins, of all things, never seem to decompose! Go figure! Used paper towels and my shredded newspaper strips, which the worms seem to love, by the way, dissolve completely. But those pesky skins of the avocados seem to have the half-life of uranium. Maybe the defense department might be interested in this information I have discovered!!!