Mike and I have been composting for over 10 years now…For those of you who grew up in the 50’s and 60’s maybe you remember the garbage man who used to stop by and pick up your pail of garbage (compost able garbage that is!) that your mom and dad left at the street in front of your house. Well, we should all be composting our garbage instead of throwing it in our trash cans. Not only will you help keep unnecessary waste in the landfill, you’ll be able to make rich, re-usable dirt for your gardening needs–also allowing you to save money! Composting, for some reason gives us a lot of gardening satisfaction!
There are a lot of ways to compost. We have a pail with a hinged lid that keeps it from being smelly and keeps out any flying creatures as well! You could use any type of covered container–a plastic coffee can works great too! Add kitchen scraps, egg shells, anything that doesn’t contain meat, cheese or other type of proteins. We line the pail with newspaper and empty the whole darn contents of the pail right into our composting bin.
Once we add new material, we turn it with a pitch fork and Mike waters it weekly– our bin actually has a frogs in it right now, Mike added worms from our worm bin into the pile as well. Other bugs to help break down the garbage–so it’s actually a small eco-system! The watering of our compost bin keeps the pile from drying out which also helps keep the worms happy and healthy!
Here’s a photo of the black bin we purchased to keep our kitchen scraps–it has newspapers and paper towels we’ve used to wipe our counters down (we use no chemicals on these paper towels).
We put items that the chickens and our worms don’t like–citrus, onion skins, garlic skins, peppers, banana peels, etc.
We also have a composite bin made of concrete block that has dirt ready to be used in our garden.
One day, we noticed something growing in our concrete block bin and decided to let it grow to see what it would be….
Believe it or not, sometimes you will get surprises from your compost besides beautiful, nutritious dirt for your garden. We were pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful pumpkin! I ended up plucking it from the bin and now it sits on our porch waiting for Halloween! Such fun!
For ideas and instructions, please refer to the websites listed below. You’ll be able to find some great info on composting in your yard. Composting brings such satisfaction and pleasure for the whole family!!! Happy composting!!!
http://www.compostinstructions.com/
Mupu Farms Christmas Tree Lot, 3710 Ojai Rd, Santa Paula CA (805) 625-0018 