Kitchen Composting

A super simple guide to composting your kitchen scraps at home!  

Steve with a mixture of poop and compost.

Now, if you're like me and you have a tendency to throw your cooking scraps on the side of the house in a raccoon infested neighbored, then Good Luck! But if you live in a place without coons and perhaps only the occasional brave possum that enjoys knocking over your garbage can, then you should be fine!

Home Composting

A wooden-flat compost bin.

Composting is a great way to turn your kitchen and yard waste in a valuable resource for your garden, or someone else's!  First things is first; Create a compost pile in a bin, hole in the ground, or other isolated area of your yard.  To keep varmints out, place a wooden flat or tight mesh chicken wire over the hole.

If you are using a composting bin. make sure to keep the lid on tight, unless you want your compost growing legs and leaving you, only to return in the form of digested goop.

**Digging about a 2-ft deep by 4-ft wide hole for a composting area is my favorite way to do it because if you need to expand your compost bin, all you have to do is dig a little more!

I like to think of composting as making a delicious and moist layer cake. Complete with sprinkles, frosting,

mmm...cake.

and dark Belgian chocolate as a filling.  A ratio of 3-4 parts brown to one part green is needed to assemble your cake.  After you add a layer of brown, you then want to top it with a layer of green, then a layer of brown, then a layer of green, then a layer or brown... well, you get the point.

Here are some examples of green and brown goodies to fill your compost cake with:

Greens

• Vegetable and Fruit Scraps

  

  An assortment of acceptable greens for your compost.

• Grains, Pasta, Bread (without a ton of oil or butter on it)
• Grass Clippings
• Fresh Manure
• Coffee Grounds
• Tea Bags
• Hedge Trimmings and Weeds
• Seaweed
• Feathers
• Plant Cuttings
• Hair (try to avoid dyed hair)

Straw is a great material for the compost.

Browns

• Dead Leaves
• Hay and Straw
• Newspaper and Cardboard
• Woody Tree Trimming Scraps
• Eggshells
• Corn Cobs
• Sawdust
• Paper napkins and towels

Some bones are great... for dogs.

Things that you should never, ever, EVER even think about putting in your compost pile.

• Meat (cows, fish, pigs, chickens)
• Cheese
• Butter
• Diseased Plants
• Oily Foods
• Milk Products

Having your own compost is necessary for garden health and in return, your own personal health!