THE DOWN AND DIRTY ON MY DIRT

Who would have thought that banana peels and onion skins still had a little utility left in them? I didn't realize just how much stuff we had been throwing in the garbage that we could've been turning into something useful.  In fact, by composting our food waste (no meat though) and reusing our bread bags (for produce and lunch bags) we've reduced our family's weekly garbage output to less than two thirteen gallon trash bags!  I am using a hot compost method to get a faster break-down and to kill any bad bacteria and weed seeds.

This is my method, please let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas:

My next batch of compost.  Notice the
cardboard box; I will shred it before I start
cooking this pile.  The smaller the pieces
are the faster they will break down

1.  I built a pile that was at least three feet tall and three feet wide.  The pile needs to be at least this big so the core temperature can get hot enough; you can make yours as long as you want but three feet is the most manageable to turn (more on this later)

2.  I used a mix of two different categories of material: carbon (brown) and nitrogen (green).  Examples of carbon materials would be straw, wood shavings (make sure these are not chemically treated), cardboard, dry leaves etc. Examples of nitrogen materials would be fresh grass clippings, kitchen waste, weeds, chicken poop, etc.

3.  I started piling these items until I had a three-foot tall mound.  I mixed all of the ingredients with a pitch fork and covered it with black plastic.  I didn't use anything fancy, just a piece of visqueen (vapor barrier for under houses) that we've had lying around for close to ten years.  We used to use it as a giant slip and slide.  You could also use an old tarp.  I covered it for two reasons.  First, the pile needs to reach a certain temperature for it to start breaking down.  The center of the pile will reach this temperature on its own but I'm impatient and like to see results quickly.  Second, it rains alot here and if the pile gets water-logged it will stop composting.

4.  I have been turning my pile every 3-4 days.  It doesn't need to be turned this often but it certainly speeds up the process by bringing oxygen to the center and breaking up big chunks.  Also, for me it's cathartic.  If you're squeamish about snakes and other creepy crawlies, use caution when pulling back your cover as they seem to love hanging out in this warm, dark place.

This is visqueen.  If you'd like to start
your own compost please don't go buy a
new tarp, you can find scraps of this on
building sites or salvage stores like the
Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  Or
the plastic that was used to wrap pallets
works great.  Just ask for it at your local
garden or hardware store; I'm sure they'd be
glad to dig some out of their garbage for you.

This guy might look scary but he was
only about the size of some of the
worms I found.

5.  When I last turned my pile I looked for a few clues to indicate that my pile was healthy.

• One, as I dug into the center I could feel warmth radiating off of the overturned compost from about an inch away (this means the conditions are right in the center for decomposition!)  If you want to get technical, the temperature of your pile should reach 135-160 degrees Fahrenheit.  You can check this with a compost thermometer which range in price from $15-$150.  I didn't feel the need to purchase one, I figure that if it's breaking down and feels warm it must be working... 
• Another, the pile smelled earthy; not rotten.  If your pile smells rotten, you have too much "green" nitrogen material and not enough "brown" carbon material or your pile is too wet.  If your pile is not composting properly it will release methane gas, which is stinky and bad for the environment.  If your pile looks exactly the same as it did when you first covered it, it might be too dry or too cold.
• The third is the presence of beneficial helpers like these little guys... 

red wiggler worms- these guys will munch on about half their weight
in compost every day turning it into worm castings aka. pure compost
goodness.  So the more the merrier!

       you can buy these worms and add them to your pile or in my case, we have enough of them
       around that they just showed up when my pile reached the right conditions.

6.  By the second time I turned my pile it had broken down enough to switch from the pitchfork to a spade-tipped shovel (aka digging shovel.)  I just dug straight down into the pile starting at the center.  This helped to break up some of the soggy piles of grass clippings and the dry spots of straw.  If these are not mixed together well enough it will take forever for them to break down.  I ended up with some BIG slimy clumps of grass that were really hard to break up into smaller chunks so next time I will not leave my grass clippings in a pile long enough to start getting slimy but rather intermix them with my straw (from chicken coop) as I dump each bag of grass.

dry straw- this came from the bottom/
center of the pile.  The wet grass
clippings actually sealed this area off to
oxygen and moisture.  If left alone
this would never compost

slimy grass clippings- these are too wet
and will rot instead of compost if left in
big clumps

7.  I will know that my compost is ready to add to my garden when I can no longer tell my carrot peels from my cardboard.  In other words, it will look like a uniform pile of beautiful black dirt.  Unfinished compost should only be added to a garden in the fall as mulch after the growing season is over.

This method seems to be working for me so far but I would love to know if any of you out there have had success with another method.  Or better yet, if there's a brave sole out there who would like to share their experience with a totally failed compost attempt, I would love to hear it.  Just add a comment below.  Let's grow together!