Sam and I moved into our house a little over five years ago. The first thing I did was set up the clothesline and the compost pile. We thought our neighbors would freak! Oh, great. Dirty hillbillies have moved into Hester's old house. There goes the neighborhood! Turns out, they were
I kind of think my way is superior because I'm also feeding the animals at the same time. All sorts of cute creatures eat out of my compost pile. Skunks, opossum, raccoons, squirrels, deer. Adorable! They're looking a little jittery these days, though. Maybe I should cut back on the coffee grounds.
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| notice the mussels |
I throw everything I can think of into the compost. Vegetable bits of course, but also eggshells, coffee grounds, fish bits, tea bags, houseplant leaves, clams shells, bread (I think the birds get that before it breaks down), compostable take-out containers and I've even tried the Sunchips bag that's supposed to be eco-friendly.
NO dairy! NO meat items! Those make a stinky bacterial mess that you don't want! I keep the kitchen scraps in a pretty bowl in the fridge to keep the fruit flies out of it in-between trips to the pile.
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| Notice the Styrofoam next to the compost. =( |
Here are some things that take a loooong time to break down in the 3' diameter pile I have (which is the minimum diameter any compost pile should be to insure it warms properly);
Corn cobs
Pine cones
Clam/Mussel shells
Sunchips bags
Take-out containers
Matted fresh cut grass
When I knock over the pile in the spring to get to the black gold at the bottom, I just sift these things out and throw them back into the new pile that I start with the stuff that didn't break down on the top and sides of the pile (where it was cooler and had insulated the stuff in the middle).
About a week and a half ago, I filled up my raised garden bed with last year's compost that had been sitting, unattended, the whole summer while I focused on painting the house. No gardening this summer! Had to focus! Focus! It had a top covering of weeds but underneath, it was black and beautiful. Smelled like healthy soil and had nice loose texture that made it easy to shovel up. Right then and there, in the cold November rain, I planted garlic that I had bought at the farmer's market a couple weeks before and had told Sam not to cook. My first act of growing this year! Normally, I do quite a bit gardening around the foundation of the house but, it would've just been in the way of all the painting prep. Even with the icy rain dripping down the exposed section of my back and trickling into my underpants, it was good to be planting again.
Now here's my dilemma;
Bones
We use them in making stock and give the big ones to the dog (I know! Don't lecture me! We don't do it very often), but what about small bones? Chicken bones? Should I start a separate bone pile? Some sort of warning to trespassers? Beware ye, for we are omnivores! I'm picturing whole new types of creatures visiting my yard - coyotes and vultures - Yikes! This forum had some interesting responses; bone composting. I'm not sure I'm ready to smash cooked bones and add them to my compost but maybe I could start burying them in the yard like a dog. I would just have to keep my dog from digging them back up. Most likely, I'll just stop buying meat that has bones in it because it's easier and I'm too busy to deal with it. The restaurants in this area all compost everything in a gigantic pile that can handle meat so I'll just eat bony food when I go out. If any of you out there have an awesome way to deal with bones, please let me know. Until then,
My heart belongs to Compost
Yours forever, Trashy Woman
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