My Compost

People often ask me if and how I compost. I do a couple different techniques. I use a couple re-used garbage cans with holes drilled on the side for relatively active composting. Active meaning that I add to the pile and turn the pile frequently (every coupla days). This is mostly food scraps. So far the lids have kept the critters away. I do add some yard waste like small twigs and early fallen leaves. A couple weeks back I was surprised to see about 100 mushrooms and several sprouts growing in one of the cans. In general, the two cans represent different stages of the composting process, active and being seasoned. You can notice the different levels of decomposition in the picture above.

I also have a basic heap of yard waste, mostly non-seed bearing weeds and some garden stuff. No food scraps go in the heap to avoid varmints. The heap doesn't get turned to often (every couple weeks), but it does get hacked with the mower on the mow day. At this point, the heap pictured is about half the size.

Lastly, I build earthworm habitats around the yard. These are basically sandwiches of newspaper/cardboard, a carbohydrate, and mulch/compost. The worms churn the area up incredibly fast (couple months), making the soil much easier to work over time. If I get the Re-Imagining Cleveland grant, I plan on using this and other techniques to build the soil. I will have a pictorial of the process soon.