Composting. A whole lot of WHY and a little bit of HOW.

Global warming to Climate change.

Polar Vortex to Crippling Drought from coast to coast.

Whether you believe it's man made or nature just going through a cycle, one thing is for sure, we all share this space which makes each and every one of us responsible in doing our part. If it was up to me, I would kindly ask everyone to compost. Look, nature does the hardest part. All you really have to do is sort it, and nature will take care of all the heavy lifting for you and what you'll be left with is nutrient rich black gold for your garden. 

Look it up online and you have the purists and the experts telling you about 3 X 3 X 3 piles and internal temperatures that will kill weed seeds and pathogenic organisms and perfect ratios of nitrogen to carbon until your head starts to spin and so the next time you make it to your kitchen, you end up trashing your vegetable peels thinking to yourself...out of sight...out of mind. You also build up excuses as it will smell or it will attract rodents to the house or I don't have enough kitchen scraps or dried leaves and on and on and on...

Here's my version of Composting for the Average Joe and Jane.

First off:  DO NOT PUT COOKED FOOD and DO NOT PUT RAW MEAT PRODUCTS.

Rats and Roaches: SOLVED.

Step 1: Place a container next to the sink. The new buzz word nowadays is "REPURPOSED". Whatever floats your boat. Any receptacle that will save you the "long walk" to the back to chuck 1 banana peel in the compost bin will do. I have this and it cost me $2.00 and it gets emptied every night. 

Step 2:  The Bin. This can range from FREE to however much you're willing to invest in a bin.

basically free

 around $180

this one is mine and it cost $10 at Walmart. drilled holes in the bottom and along the sides for ventilation. 3 bricks under the can to help with drainage and 1 brick for the lid on because of the punk raccoon that likes to mess with me.(compost inside is not quite finished. still had a few solids in it because I just got the new bin, however for all intents and purposes.... that's black gold down there... just so you know I'm not lying haha.

Step 3: What to put in that bin? Ratio to keep in mind is 2 parts brown to 1 part green. Greens are everything from fruits and vegetables that have gone bad in your fridge. Vegetable and fruit peels. Coffee grounds from the coffee maker and go ahead and throw the filter with it. Grass clippings from the yard. Browns are dried leaves, cardboard, shredded paper from the machine, newspaper and dried up yard clippings. 

My new batch consists of grass clippings and dried leaves raked up around the property. The rest will be a few weeks worth of kitchen scraps until the bin is almost full. You can add to it periodically but once it starts to really get going, you can go ahead and just wait for it to mature and start off another bin. 

Finally once you have your greens and browns mixed in, toss a bit of dirty on top to introduce as a bacterial kick starter and water the pile just until it feels like a wet rung out sponge. 

TROUBLESHOOTING:

I don't have enough stuff to put in: Totally fine. We all have different habits and situations so fill it as you go. You might only have greens, or only browns. Doesn't matter. It will decompose in due time.

It's starting to smell sour/bad!: Too much greens. If you have some, add some dried leaves or dried grass clippings. Shredded paper or newspaper will also work well to balance out the aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Along with the smell, it will also be slimy so shovel some dry soil and order will be restored in the bin.

Can I speed up the process?: Yes. Give the pile a nice turn once a day if you're adventurous enough. It will introduce some air to the particles that are in the middle and that will kick start the essential bacteria to do their job. Turning will also give you a chance to see if the pile is too dry or too wet so you can either add some greens or browns. Another great tip to speed things up is to chop up whatever you throw in there. The more surface area bacteria can grab on to, the faster the decomposition process will be. 

Mature compost will look and smell like dirt. Know that whatever type of soil you have, compost will help it. You can either add it to the soil before you plant or add it to already growing plants. You can even make a compost tea and use it to water your plants if you don't have much compost to go around. If all else fails and you aren't the gardening type... give the compost to someone who does and I'm sure they'll return the favor with some delicious fruits and vegetables.