Reply to I would like to start composting . . .

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[quote=Anonymous]I used to have a 3 bin system and moving stuff from one bin to the next, etc, but now I literally have a small pile in a corner of the backyard near the garage (garage is detached, when the pile was closer to the house it created more of a fly problem). I turn it periodically. It has grass clipping and kitchen waste (eggshells but no meat). Leaves get mulched via mowing in the fall.

I have a friend who has been fervently green since we were in college in the 70s, and he now grows impressive crops of vegetables in his house during the winter, in a sunroom. He said "cold composting" which this mostly is except when it gets a hefty injection of grass clippings) is fine, it encourages good fungal growth. There's no odor.

In the kitchen I just use old plastic folgers coffee containers. I have several of them. When the one I use gets full it gets dumped, it sits in the same corner of the yard to get rain and sun. There's be a few there already, and I take one to my side entryway and park it so if it's wet, it will dry out. I'll take the existing dry container from the entryway into the kitchen to start over. This way I avoid having to scrub slimy crud from the bottom of the compost container.

The work of sifting is the only real work, an hour or so a few times from spring to summer. I only sift the parts that have basically turned into compost (I'll move the top stuff to start the pile over, then sift the stuff underneath). I've seen plans for making screen turning bins for sifting but really don't produce enough for that. I just have a plastic bin, lay a piece of half inch screen over it, and dump shovels of compost on that and shake it around and scrape with the shovel a bit. This way I can pick out any rocks or hunks of wood or plastic or other trash that has found its way in (because plastic manages to do that). [/quote]

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