Composters Anonymous

[Smart Red]

Hi, my name is Smart Red and I am a compost-a-holic.

I have a problem. Not only do I have chickens - in good part for their waste - but I rescued a rabbit for the sole purpose of his activities as a compost additive producer, "Rusty, the Fertilizer Rabbit".

Love, Smart Red

 

[lesa]

Oh, SmartRed- now you've got me thinking!! A bunny!

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Hi, my name is Gardening with Rabbits and I am a compost-a-holic. As you can tell by my name I have rabbits. I "rescued" them. I feed them all kinds of things and if they spill their food I scoop it up for the compost bins. Some of them actually try to help me. They pick their crock of pellets up and drop the whole bowl in their water. When I find it I almost dance to the compost bin with the treasure. I give them sunflower seeds and when you scoop some out there are little twigs in there and I keep every twig or stem and put in the compost bin. Their poop is another story. We have the litter boxes that are cleaned daily, but underneath the hutch there are more boxes that we put under there with some compost and the bottom of the hutch is surrounded with plastic right now to keep wind from blowing up into the hutch, but my husband and I peaked under there with a flashlight and we cannot wait until spring to get it all out. Some of it has already composted down. The neighbors probably are wondering what is going on. I can be seen checking the compost bins early in the morning and late at night with a flashlight. I actually go out before bed and feel how much heat is coming off the bins.

 

[journey11]

Did anyone see an article in Grit magazine some months ago...heck, maybe it was a year ago. It had a comprehensive list of things you could compost. I looked for it online, but didn't find it. A real compost addict will compost any of the following (as best from my memory), in addition to the usual kitchen waste, yard trimmings, and so on:

coffee filters and tea bags
paper plates (not wax coated)
Q-tips and cotton balls
100% cotton clothing, etc.
cooked bones
dryer lint
shredded newspaper, junk mail, scrap paper, etc.
wood ashes (as Marshall mentioned)
contents of vacuum
human and pet hair

Good grief, it was a very long list and I can't remember a fraction of it. Anybody got anything they can add to that?

You are not supposed to compost meat, but I do. Sometimes I bury whole dead chickens. You can compost anything if you can bury it deep enough and are willing to wait on it to naturally decompose. If my pile is already nice and hot, you can come back about 2 months later and find nothing but a layer of melted fat and a few bones. Problem usually is if it isn't buried deep enough, something will come dig it up. I compost the feathers, blood and other leftovers from processing day the same way...bury it deep. Bones are super valuable for calcium and other minerals and plants love them...their roots will go after them. I refuse to throw them in the garbage, but that's just me.

When I die, I want to be buried in my compost pile. Seriously!

 

[Smart Red]

Oh, SmartRed- now you've got me thinking!! A bunny!

Rusty spends the winter high in the chicken coop. He is trained to use the same corner all the time and, while I know the chickens would help if I let it fall on their litter. I have a large waste basket catching all Rusty's waste.

Poor baby was a house rabbit in his past life. When I rescued him I made it clear that I would care for him in return for his fertilizer value.

Love, Smart Red

 

[canesisters]

Did anyone see an article in Grit magazine some months ago...heck, maybe it was a year ago. It had a comprehensive list of things you could compost. I looked for it online, but didn't find it. A real compost addict will compost any of the following (as best from my memory), in addition to the usual kitchen waste, yard trimmings, and so on:

coffee filters and tea bags
paper plates (not wax coated)
Q-tips and cotton balls
100% cotton clothing, etc.
cooked bones
dryer lint
shredded newspaper, junk mail, scrap paper, etc.
wood ashes (as Marshall mentioned)
contents of vacuum
human and pet hair

<raises hand>
... I compost coffee filters and tea bags... I've actually been caught 'cleaning up the kitchen' at church and tucking the used coffee - filter and all - into a baggie and stashing it in my purse.....

 

[journey11]

LOL, I would totally do that too, Canesisters!

I used to work at a coffee shop in college, but I didn't have a garden or even imagine making compost back then. I would love to have access to all those coffee grounds today. I am surprised now that no one else ever came in and asked for them? :/ Not to mention the veggie scraps from the sandwich bar...

 

[897tgigvib]

Just imagine having some of these resources for the truly addicted...

55 gallon garbage cans full of the dishwashers' scrapings from a busy mainly vegetarian and omelette restaurant...
2 of them daily!!!

The local lawn mower guys from the golf course bringing a truckload of lawn clippings once a week!!!

The nearby dude ranch bringing a front end loader full of almost pure horse poop once a week! And, a pickup truck load of old straw once a month!!!:weight

Having a couple barren stony acres just for making compost on...heck, won't take long and those couple acres will have 2 foot deep of compost for top soil!!!!!

:watering

It'd be heaven for the compostaholic in all of us!

 

[Just-Moxie]

I became a compost addict 20 years ago when I planted a family garden for us down in MS. The compost pile did better then the garden, with juicy fat worms and everything! I became hooked after that.

A compost pile makes a great educational tool for kids too!. my kids loved it. They were 12, 7 and 5 then.

 

[vfem]

Don't forget you guys can goto Starbucks and ask for their coffee grounds for your compost pile and they'll toss you a full bag.


My husband did go pick up some of those paper bags once full of leaves on the side of the road waiting for the cities pick up crew to come take them. What a waste... they paid for those perfectly compostable bags!

Anyways, I just throw it in a pile and maybe turn it every couple of months. But I sure do get a lot of compost.