As much as I'd love to tell you that composting came naturally to me, it just didn't. It takes some trial and error to figure it out, and it also takes a really good composter. Unfortunately, it took us five years and three failed composters to arrive at one that actually does what it's supposed to do--break down food, without breaking down. I know a few people who simply chuck their food scraps in a big pile in the backyard and cover it up with mulch, and if that works for you--great! However, we happen to live in black bear and coyote country, and we don't want our backyard to turn into a buffet for the wild kingdom--it's important to us that the compost stays well-contained. So, here's my official review of composters (all without worms, for you squeamish types).
Back in the summer of 2008, determined to divert our food waste from landfills (mostly due to my obsession with garbage and desire to create less of it), we ordered the NatureMill composter (this model appears to be an updated version) through Williams-Sonoma. It seemed like a revolutionary product because it was an indoor (!) composter, able to do year-round composting. We kept it right in the kitchen and we didn't smell anything. (Sometimes, my husband said it smelled vaguely of mushrooms, but he doesn't like mushrooms, and I didn't smell it, so I don't know what to make of that critique.) It was also able to compost things that are not recommended for other composters--meat, fish, poultry, dairy. However, it jammed up three times within the year that we owned it, and since it was relatively new to the market, customer service at NatureMill (although quick and courteous) seemed to be using us as guinea pigs to figure out their glitches. I had to go through the extremely unpleasant task of emptying out the contents (that's a nice way of saying "scooping out disgustingly stinky, dripping-wet food, well on its way to molding and rotting"), and my husband had to install a new circuit board, which helped--for a couple of months, until it broke again. And again. After the third strike, it was out--we sent it back to Williams-Sonoma and got a full refund. It's worth reiterating that NatureMill has updated their models to address previous problems, so maybe their new line works better (but we're not going to be the guinea pigs).
Onto our next model: the Sun-Mar Continuous Use Composter, purchased from Gaiam. This one didn't jam up, but the stand warped and the tumbler fell off its spinner. Also, it was a favorite playtoy with the neighborhood raccoons. We saw one little guy balancing on top of it--sort of like a circus clown on a barrel--and he was able to rip off the door, twice. Gaiam replaced it in a flash--we didn't even need to clean it out or send it back (their customer service rep recognized how incredibly gross the task was, plus the photo of the broken composter was enough proof for them). However, the replacement composter also warped and fell off its spinner. Gaiam promptly refunded us due to their (totally excellent) unconditional guarantee. So, that ended well--except for the two big, plastic composters that ended up at the landfill, badly defeating the whole purpose of using a composter to reduce our waste.
Just when we were about to throw in the towel on composting, we came upon the Joraform Compost Tumbler (pictured above) on Amazon*. It's been nearly two years, and the only problem we've ever had with it is that it arrived via UPS in a damaged box so the screws fell out en route (another reason for me to break up with the UPS man). The seller on Amazon (The Composting Warehouse) sent new screws and we had our handyman put it together for us (the instructions seemed a tad complicated, but we are just not that techy, despite our brief tenure as NatureMill technicians). It's a good size, with two chambers, and secure latches--wild critters cannot get into it. Whenever we add food scraps, we add a layer of dry mulch, spin it, and add more mulch. No smell at all. The compost turns out exactly as it should--like rich, aerated soil, with no real evidence that it was once food.
So that's my recommendation to you--and to my friend, Jennifer, who lives on a farm and spends a good deal of time shoveling sheep manure, and yet the concept of composting "completely grosses her out." Jen, I promise you, it's not bad at all--when you have the right composter.
Your turn: Tell me about your composting trials and tribulations. Qualms? Questions? I'm all ears!
***********************************************************************************************************************************
Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing via email or RSS reader (in righthand column).
************************************************************************************************************************************
© 2013 by Joy Sussman/JoyfullyGreen.com. All rights reserved. Photo and text digitally fingerprinted and protected by MyFreeCopyright.com. Site licensed by Creative Commons.
Just for the record....I have never tried to compost. It just seems yucky to me. And ME a woman who spends a good amount of time in poop... I desperately would like to produce less garbage. Having 5 kids and 3 adults in a house were its illegal to have a garbage disposable makes for an amount of garbage that is embarrassing. I just feel like it wouldnt be worth the effort of seperating yet another part of my waste into another bin that needs to be cleaned as well. Basically, I think its awesome that YOU compost but I"m going to stick with trying to buy local and having everyone finish all the food on their plates!
Posted by: j zairi | 03/22/2013 at 05:03 PM
And you know I think youre all kinds of awesome for doing everything you do! I realize you are a master coordinator--running your house, family, farm, and much of the school, so composting would only add one more task to your crazy list. And youre right, we just cant help what grosses us out!
Posted by: Joy @ JoyfullyGreen.com | 03/22/2013 at 05:39 PM
Sometimes I wish we had an official composter. We do the big heap in the backyard. It's behind a tree but there are times when it looks pretty bad - especially right now as the snow is beginning to melt and all the food scraps from the winter are out in the open. Fortunately we don't have to worry about bears! :)
Posted by: Micaela | 03/26/2013 at 08:49 AM
Back when my dad was alive and gardening, he built two compartment wooden bin for compost. As with most of his carpentry projects, it was, shall we say, stronger in function than form. All the scraps went into it, with a few shovels of horse manure obtained from a local stable and some leaves. One compartment was "active" and the other for aging. I wasn't much interested back then, but I can clearly recollect that the compost that came out of it was superb. The pile was always HOT. In cool evenings you could see the steam rising from the composting material. I think the horse manure was the secret ingredient there, as the manure piles we used to raid were similarly steamy. Things are a bit more rural back then and the garden plot was huge and easily accommodated the big wooden bins.
I haven't seen results like that from our rotating composter, but, then, I haven't used the secret ingredient :)
Posted by: Bob | 04/02/2013 at 06:38 AM
Im sure your dad was onto a great idea, but I think Im a bit too squeamish to try his secret ingredient! We cant even go the worm route for composting (mostly due to hubbys squeamishness, but thats another story...), and Ive heard raves about worm composting as well!
Posted by: Joy @ JoyfullyGreen.com | 04/02/2013 at 01:57 PM
Hi Micaela,
Do you cover your food scrap compost with layers of mulch or dirt? That will help--although you're right that winter really slows things waaaaaaay down in terms of decomposition! We needed to take a composting break from December 'til now due to all of the snow. I'm glad you don't need to fight off the critters in your neck of the woods!
Posted by: Joy @ JoyfullyGreen.com | 04/02/2013 at 07:50 PM