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YouTubeHi! I am an educator and i need help for a class project. I want to show my students compost at different stages. Could I take a sample from your bin(s)? You need to be able to tell me about how long its been cooking... Thanks for any help!
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion
people who compost, I need help
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Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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A little more info here:
http://www.columbusunderground.com/composting-conflicts-in-columbus
And here:
Posted 3 years ago # -
alison
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You could come sample mine, but I don't know how scientifically pure it is. I add a layer every other week or so, but in addition to juice bar pulp, coffee grounds and paper there's old potting soil and other oddities, so it doesn't look like traditional compost.
It's also not balanced in terms of greens and browns, and I don't turn or aerate it or anything. Like you're supposed to.
That said, it's never smelled, and I've never noticed vermin anywhere near it.
Posted 3 years ago # -
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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I just added a compost tumbler last weekend. I have 2 recycled pallet bins, and now the tumbler. However, everything got pretty tossed and mixed last weekend, so the age of the compost would be impossible to state. I think I added too much water to the tumbler, so I wouldn't take anything from there, but I could give you some from a bin. By now, the middle is heating up again (the very middle gets so hot, it actually begins to char the brown ingredients -- so the very middle can sometimes be grey, instead of black). You're welcome to a sample of whatever portion you'd like.
The most interesting approach for the students might be to setup your own composting - either a small worm bin in the classroom or a bin outside (with permission from the school). Then you could watch it progress -- and if you do a bin outside, it could provide some outdoor classroom time, which is always nice.
Posted 3 years ago # -
geigondis
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Thanks everyone! I will PM with you all shortly. We are going to set up our own bins and conduct experiments, but I wanted to kick it off with some visuals from existing piles. The school year will end before the batches they start will be ready, so I just want them to see it from other people's piles too or they won't get the full satisfaction. Does anyone have any spare materials for constructing bins? We have wooden pallets to make one container and a tumbler, but we need other kinds, too. One of the experiments is seeing how different types of containers yield different results. I have seen online that you can use snow fencing, wire mesh, etc. Anyone have spare materials we could use or know of a place that would donate?
Posted 3 years ago # -
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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I got our pallets from my MIL's barn...sorry. I've seen a place around Richwood or West Mansfield that had a bunch of pallets, but I don't remember where it was at, and don't know if it's still there. I'll ask my husband if he knows of anywhere.
I've used a number of different setups for composting. My latest is pallets, attached together with brackets, with cedar fencing slats on the front to make it more attractive from the house. It was my own idea, based on a number of designs I've seen in the past. I don't recommend this. Although pallets hold up well, the cedar fencing slats are not going to last long. They aren't thick enough to deal with the weight of a full bin. Live and learn. It does look decent from the house, though, even now (although I think most of the boards on the front will fail by the end of this summer). You can see a picture of my bins taken after I added this front portion last year on my flickr site: compost bins. The second picture should give you an idea of how they are put together. I have a number of Rodale gardening books that have designs for compost bins, that you could reference.
Last weekend, my parents came for a visit from Missouri, and Dad brought his compost tumbler that he no longer wanted to use. He primarily uses a three bin system made of cinder blocks. I talked Dad into composting probably about 15 years ago. He got really into it, and at some point he bought that tumbler. I've never used one, but will be playing around with it, since I got it for free.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Manatee
The eternal present
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Haha, I'm late to this thread, but I actually have a Mason jar of um, really interesting compost...
It looks like the richest humus ever, it was made from our outhouse bucket contents, over the course of about 5 years. We would dig a hole near the surface of the soil, empty the bucket (human waste+sawdust+TP), then cover over with topsoil. I took a jar of it because I couldn't BELIEVE how beautiful it was, no joke.
This is why I really, really love composting toilets and outhouses. Turning something nobody likes, into something everybody likes. Plus, flush toilets are really wasteful, water-wise.
One note, though, it's a good idea to use this kind of compost on flowers (not food plants) at first, for obvious reasons.
Posted 3 years ago # -
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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geigondis wrote >>
Ok, so does anyone know if I can throw some red wigglers into any compost bin or if it only works with the specially designed bins?If you build it, they will come. Really. That's one reason why I prefer bins that are in contact with the ground -- lots of good creatures and organisms already there just waiting to multiply if given the chance. I didn't add any worms to my bins, and have LOTS of more than one kind. Harley gets excited about me turning the compost, because she hunts the night-crawlers. However, if you've got them you can certainly add them to any bin, and I'm sure they'd be happy to eat the scraps. They are required to be added to worm bins inside the house (to get them started), but outside, really, you shouldn't need to add worms nor compost starter. Just throw a little soil in with the waste, try to have a good mix of dry (brown...leaves, paper, etc) and wet (green...grass, kitchen scraps, etc) ingredients, and keep it damp but not wet (think squeezed out sponge).
Posted 3 years ago # -
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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I had a friend in St. Louis whose dad used a composting toilet. I never saw it, but she says it didn't smell at all, and was great! Before talking to her, I had visions of outhouses -- like those smelly, nasty things we used when we went camping when I was a kid (that I had fears of falling into). Apparently, some new designs provide some really clean composting toilets. Pretty cool. Although, honestly, I'm happy to flush away here in the city...
Posted 3 years ago # -
lisathewaitress
SoHud
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I also have some compost from last summer you can sample. it hasn't really turned into black gold yet, though, i have to admit...
Posted 3 years ago #
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