Getting your compostin' on: The Stuff

To be honest, where I grew up in upstate New York, composting was something that farmers did with old junk they had laying around their farm. Most of the stuff probably would not meet today's suburban composting standards, but it probably worked. A few weeks ago, I decided that we should give composting a go. We had been talking about it for about 2 years and spring seemed like a good time to start. I did a little research and asked people on my Facebook page for advice. I got a lot of great feedback.

A couple of people mentioned that this great compost tumbler is currently sold at Costco for about $90!

 

Bargain shopping is a great way to start the composting project (at least for me). This is a pest-free model which is critical for us since we live in a decidedly urban suburb where raccoons and rats are frequently on the prowl in our neighborhood. Jim spent about an hour and a half assembling the tumbler earlier this week. You definitely need a drill in case you are considering this model. I had considered the bargain route that John and Sherry at Young House Love took, but I knew we would outgrow it quickly. We may use this method if we want to move some of our half-baked compost out of the tumbler to "finish" it for a few weeks before we use it.

We also needed something to keep compostable kitchen waste in. Thanks to Facebook, someone else recommended this cute kitchen compost jar from World Market which I picked up last week during their friends and family sale.

Next up is figuring out what to compost and, maybe more importantly, not to compost! More on that tomorrow!