we had one growing up.

everything went in it. every scrap of uneaten food, every scrap of things removed in preparation of food, food that went bad, etc. everything where food and trash overlap.

watch for crows/pigeons/seagulls/possums/raccoons etc.

FuzzBob wrote:I come from three generations of composters...

weird. me too.

Mmmm, Kimchi.

[just attaching myself to this thread so I can use it later at the new house]

My wife, who maintains a kick-ass garden at our house (seriously, her tomatoes are to die for), is big on composting, and she passed along to me this "do's and don't's" list from the EPA that she says is spot-on:

http://www.epa.gov/composting/by_compost.htm

She also adds, "Oh, and they are a bit unclear about 'animal manure'.
Basically, pets--no. Never cat and dog poop. Herbivores (hampsters, horses, etc.) yes."

Hope this helps. Now to feed some more tea bags, coffee grounds and banana peels to the pile ...

We'll all be compost eventually.

I wouldn't worry too much about fiddling with the pH. One of those rotary bins really helps you burn through waste, so that you won't have to deal with an unmanageable volume of compost that's decaying at a less than optimal rate. We've got a pair of worm bins in the furnace room and they have no problems turning our refuse into dirt, takes about three weeks tops.

$30 is peanuts for a totary bin, considering all the fancy bullshit that's out there. And diverting your putrescibles means lower tax bills down the road (or perhaps merely the absence of higher tax bills), as landfill sites are getting much rarer and vastly more expensive.

Watch it with the proteins (even horrifying old tofu you find in the back of the fridge should just go right in the trash), and if you're a big citrus eater try to dry out the peels before you toss them.

i usta compost here more'n i been postin of late.

My wife spent too much on one of these about a year ago. It works ok I guess.

The thing that is cool about it is that we hardly have any 'regular' trash anymore since we now chop up everything that is plant/veggie material. Also guests always ask wtf the big green thing is in our backyard.

Compost:

Throw everything in there. The more nitrogen rich material the better.

Don't put in too much leaves or grass or sticks.

Add water occasionally.

Stir.

Wait.



That's pretty much it.