Ode to my compost

Last year when we moved in Chuck built me a lovely compost bin. And we quickly filled it up with all kinds of bunny litter, kitchen scraps, yard waste, old hay bails (from that awesome party we had), shredded paper all things natural. ***Have compost questions: see this post.*** And we waited. And waited. And waited. Our compost bin was pathetic last year. I had my doubts that it was ever going to break down. When we lived down in the tropics, our compost bin turned so quick and we saw great results. And then here...there is a lot of clay in our soil rather than sand and it takes a lot longer for the compost to turn.

So I have been on the hunt for something to help my compost speed up the break down process. Any kind of magic sprinkle that would help it break down a little more quickly. I asked around at local nurseries and no one had heard of any such thing. Then one day early this spring I found my magic potion.

I sprinkled this on my compost pile and it seemed to do the trick. It contains some kind of fish guts and gross stuff. It was either perfect timing and the compost pile was just going to turn into usable soil or it was this gunk.

And have you heard of the compostable chip bag? Yep...a chip bag that can be composted. Sunchips now comes in a bag that can be composted. Just a warning...it is a REALLY loud bag. Crinkly doesn't even describe it.
I am curious to see how long it takes to break down. I put it in the compost bin Mother's Day weekend. So far, it hasn't done much.

You can see the side on the right has finally turned into usable dirt. And we are just dumping our compost into the side on the left now. We have even used the dirt to fill up a flower box. I am still forever fascinated by the whole idea that what we put in here would go into the trash. With recycling and composting we have less waste than the average family. I have also noticed how many more worms my compost bin has this year. Must be some good eats for those guys.

Comments are off of my posts for a time while I take care of some maintenance.