Starting composting

Zoe'sMama

Finally got our composter (rolling barrel style)!

School me, ladies, on how to get started. Can I just start tossing food scraps in? Do I need to wait and get some dried grass/leaves to start? Can I toss things every day or do I have to do batches?

TIA! 

Zoe'sMama

kellybellybean:

One thing I learned: don't compost avocado peels.  They don't break down.  GL 

 

Good to know- thanks! We eat a lot of avocados!

Tonya_G

Zoe'sMama:

kellybellybean:

One thing I learned: don't compost avocado peels.  They don't break down.  GL 

 

Good to know- thanks! We eat a lot of avocados!

Hmm, I hadn't noticed this yet- good to know! We've chucked quite a few in there b/c DD loves her avocado.

smurfetteinred

Tonya_G:

Zoe'sMama:

kellybellybean:

One thing I learned: don't compost avocado peels.  They don't break down.  GL 

 

Good to know- thanks! We eat a lot of avocados!

Hmm, I hadn't noticed this yet- good to know! We've chucked quite a few in there b/c DD loves her avocado.

Weird. Mine break down just fine. 

Ditto what she said though - you want a rough 50/50 balance of green to brown waste. Green waste would be fruit & vegetable peels/ cores/ scraps as long as they haven't been cooked with oils or butters, grass or non dried leaves (if you treat your grass with anything then you may want to leave that out or those pesticides will make it into your compost) and brown waste is anything dry like paper, dryer lint, dried leaves, straw. You can start composting now and throw some recycling paper/ torn up cardboard in to balance with your green waste.

smurfetteinred

kellybellybean:

smurfetteinred:

 

Weird. Mine break down just fine. 

Hmm.  I wonder why mine aren't.  Every fall when we empty the compost bin, there are a bunch of avocado peels that look basically the same as when I put them in there, they're just drier.  I break them up by hand and spread them out, and in spring, they're still in there, just brittle! 

Super bizarre! Yeah, I haven't had any issues with mine. Eggshells are another story but since I started baking the membranes out of them even those are golden.