Home composting Step 2: Building compost

So, tell me - in the first post when I mentioned common composting issues like the compost smelling awful or never turning into usable compost, did you totally nod your head?

Did you slightly nod your head while looking around to make sure that no one was watching you admit your shame?

Yeah - it's OK. We've been there. We've had the stinky not-working-right compost. We've had the bowed head shame.

But now we're going to change that. Right here and now, we're on the road to recovery! Or, at least, the road to not-stinky home composting.

Let the healing begin.

Remember, Step 1: Kitchen Collection.

This was where you got yourself a nice airtight container (so no bugs can play in your house while the kitchen scraps collect throughout the week) with a sturdy handle (so you don't have to EW touch the compost when you take it out) that has all of the YES! kitchen and household scraps written on one side of the container and the magic compost recipe on the other.

You got yourself a nice storage bucket for the carbon that makes its way into your house all week (newspapers, paper towel tubes, oh my word all of that junk mail and even those phone books they insist on delivering even though there's the Internet) and started filling it up.

Maybe you even started taking your scraps and carbon out to your compost pile/bin/tumbler to get rolling.

Let's roll. Or compost. Or whatever.

Good - let's go to Step 2: Building compost.

1. Shred that carbon
   

   

   Remember: When you make a compost heap - you must shred it. Shred it good. Sing the song if it helps.

   
   
   Seriously, friends. I do not jest. Big sheets of newspaper, giant swaths of cardboard - it will not do. Specifically, it will not break down properly in your bin unless you shred it up. The more rough surface area for the friendly bacteria to work on in there, the better.
   
   Put all that paper through your home shredder, tear it up by hand, make your kids do it as their after school activity - whatever. Just get it broken down a bit so that your compost can make use of it.
   
   And, if you have a lot of carbon, it might be worthwhile to do this activity in big batches and then store the shredded carbon in a big sealed container near your bin so that you can quickly get at it when you take the kitchen scraps out.
   
   But that last one is just a suggestion. You do what you need to do.


2. Stir that compost
   
   
   
   Once you're out at the compost site with your kitchen scrap bucket (held by its handle because EW) and your super shreddy carbon, take a look at the compost you've got going (if you have any going) and give it a little stir with a garden fork to introduce some new air.
   
   Even if you have a tumbler, this is a good practice and more effective than just spinning the thing around like a wild man. Or woman - women can be wild, too.
   
   Check the condition of the pile and keep that in mind as you add your scraps, carbon and water.
   
   Is it dry?
   Is it a big super damp blob?
   Are there bugs flying all about?
   Does it smell like holy hell?


3. Add your scraps
   
   

   

   Oh yeah - that roasted Brussels sprout and Delicata squash dish was good.

   
   Then, once you're done being wild and interrogating your compost, dump your kitchen scraps on that pile.


4. Add your shredded carbon
   
   
   
   Then, if your compost passed muster during interrogation, add twice as much shredded carbon as you did kitchen scraps and move on to Step 5.
   
   
   If your compost was super damp, had bugs flying all about or smelled like holy hell, cover the entire pile with a layer of shredded carbon and mix it in with your garden fork. Then add another layer of carbon to the surface of the pile.
   
   This will absorb some of the excess moisture, keep the bugs down and work toward drying that blob out.


5. Add water
   
   
   
   If you've arrived at Step 5 without having to add extra carbon, now you can lightly water the carbon layer on your pile, close up shop and go on to Step 6. Also, good going, Composter Supreme.


6. Rinse and repeat
   
   Rinse out your kitchen scrap container and dump that water in your composter or around a nearby plant and you're done.
   
   

   

   Apple tree says thank you.

And that's basically it.

Every week, just like you do with the garbage that goes to the street, haul your (much lighter) kitchen scrap collection container out to your compost pile/bin/tumbler with your shredded carbon, stir it up, survey its condition, add your scraps, add your carbon, add your water and rinse.

Depending on the size of your operation and the temperature (compost works quickly in warmer weather and slowly in cooler weather), you should have finished compost in six months or less.

Do remember though, that at some point you'll have to stop adding new kitchen scraps to the pile so that the whole pile can break down and finish.

When you've filled about 3/4 of your bin/tumbler with scraps, or you're a few months from needing your compost, stop adding scraps and start a new pile, letting this first one finish. Maybe let other composting fiends in your house to stop adding stuff to that bin/pile/tumbler, too.

Then keep up with the rotation so that when you empty your finished compost (leaving just a little bit behind as a starter for a new pile)  into your garden, you can start over anew adding scraps to it while letting the other pile finish processing.

It's a full circle thing.