How to Compost: Expert Q&A with Fred Horch

For those of you who have been following the How to Compost series here at Please Come Flying, I have a special treat for you today.

Meet Fred Horch, a former corporate attorney, computer geek, private pilot, and professional environmentalist. Not to mention he's the friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable owner of the F. W. Horch Sustainable Goods shop here in Brunswick. [By the way, they're having a sale this weekend...if you're in Maine, I would definitely check out this flyer (.pdf).]

Fred's blog, Green Tidings, is a great place to get tips on things like indoor air quality, weatherizing your home, and yes, composting. Which is why I've asked him here. Fred has graciously agreed to answer a few basic questions about composting. Later this Fall, he's also agreed to write a guest post on his recommended home composters. Thanks for joining us, Fred!

JC: What is the most common composting problem people seem to have, and what is the best solution?

FH: People usually have one of two problems:

1) "I keep adding stuff but nothing is happening." This usually means the compost is too dry. You can preserve things for centuries if you keep it dry! The solution is to add water. Even better, add water mixed with an activator. The results are often spectacular.

2) "Help! My compost stinks to high heaven." This usually means the compost is too wet, and probably acidic. Add dry materials like shredded leaves, wood chips, clean sawdust, chopped up cardboard or shredded paper. It also helps to turn it and mix it air (this makes the smell temporarily worse, but then it gets better). If you want to compost kitchen scraps without odors, a dry source of carbon is not optional -- you must add all the ingredients (greens, browns, water and air) to make a successful batch of compost!

JC: Why should I compost? Is it worth the hassle?

FH: There are two main reasons to compost: 1) It's one of the few things you can do for the planet that literally makes the world a better place. Feeding your soil improves its fertility, which benefits all living things. 2) What else are you planning to do with your garbage? In a word, all the other alternatives suck. Landfills are expensive and pollute our water. Incinerators can't burn wet garbage. Dumping at sea is now illegal.

As far as being worth the hassle, that depends on you. Most people find it's not a big deal. If you don't have curbside garbage pickup, it's probably less of a hassle to compost than to haul big bags of stinky garbage to the dump.

JC: What is the most common misconception people have about composting?

FH: Most people think you need a lot of room to do it. The fact is, you can compost in an apartment if you want. We have self-contained worm bins, bokashi buckets, and NatureMills that all work inside.

JC: What is the strangest composting question anyone's ever asked you?

FH: We just had a guy ask us how to compost fleece. This summer one of our employees took a week-long course on industrial scale composting, so he was ready with the answer. (He'd be happy to tell you how to compost 200 cow carcasses, too, if you really want to know.)

JC: Thanks a million, Fred. I really appreciate everything you do in the community...we're all very lucky to have you around!

How To Compost: Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again

If you've missed any of the excitement, you can view the entire How to Compost series.

So, I guess it begins all over again...

From: Josephine
Date: Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Subject: Sun-Mar 200 Problem
To: compost@sun-mar.com

Hello.

I spoke with someone at customer service on Monday, and she suggested that I send you an email with some photos to describe my problem.

I purchased a Sun-Mar 200 Garden Composter in May 2007. As you can see from the attached photos, it seems that the inner drum is falling out. Each time I turn the composter, the inner drum pushes out more and more. It is bending the arm of the stand so far out that I have to be very careful when I turn it so that the entire tumbler doesn't fall out of the stand (which has now happened twice). If I lift the composter onto its side (difficult to do because the composter is quite full), the inner drum *will* slide back into place, but after a week or so, it begins to inch its way out again. Is there anything that can be done to secure the inner drum in its place?

Additionally, I would like to say that I have not had good luck getting compost in the inner drum. Even though the composter is quite full, and material in the *outer* drum has been balanced and composting nicely all along, there has never been anything but dried, uncomposted garbage in the inner drum. Finally, after more than a year of adding material, a local retailer suggested regularly spraying water into the inner drum which seems like it is helping.

However, now that I can no longer turn the composter without the inner drum falling out, that seems less of an issue.

I'm sorry to say that I have tried your customer service multiple times since May 2007 with either no response (via email) or unhelpful, bordering on rude response (via phone). I hope you will be able to help me out this time. I was very excited to use the Sun-Mar Garden Composter because of its innovative, continuous compost design. Sadly, it has yet to meet my expectations.

Sincerely,

Josephine Cameron


---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
From: compost@sun-mar.com
Date: Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 5:13 PM
Subject: RE: Sun-Mar 200 Problem
To: Josephine

Hi Josephine,

It looks like the screws that hold the inner drum in have let go. This was an issue with earlier models of the Garden Composter 200. I am going to replace the unit under warranty. Your new unit should arrive in approximately 2 weeks.

Regards,

Donna Seabrook
Sun-Mar Corp.

Here is the complete How to Compost series in case you'd like to catch up or review:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

Grab Bag Friday: Sun Mar 200 Compost Update

I've had a number of requests for a Sun Mar 200 continuous composter update, so here's what I've got for you:

My composter is about 3/4 full. When I open it, steam comes out and everything appears to be moist and breaking down, so something has to be working.

But. (You knew it was coming, didn't you?) In the inner drum where the compost is supposed to be gathering, there is still a bunch of dried garbage collecting there. Even when I push it back into the main composter (as suggested by Sun Mar), more dried garbage still falls into the inner drum. Let me be clear: everything in the inner drum is not composting because it is completely dried out. Got it?

So I chatted with the friendly folks at FW Horch this week (rather than try to duke it out with the Sun Mar folks again), and they suggested that instead of pushing the dried garbage from the inner drum back in, to pull it out and put it back in at the top. In case it is the same dried garbage that keeps falling in?

So that's my next plan of attack. In the meantime, Brett at FW Horch pointed out that at least it's working like a bottomless garbage can. Which, I suppose, is something. As always, I'll keep you posted.

If you've missed any of this riveting food-disposal drama, you can catch up here.

Here is the complete How to Compost series in case you'd like to catch up or review:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

Grab Bag Friday: Compost Update, Sustainable Household Goods

It's the last day of Earth Week and our town is abuzz with free bike tune ups, cell phone recycling drives, and even a transportation fair. In celebration, I thought I'd give you a compost update and a review of how our various sustainable experiments worked out over the last year.

The Compost Update: All I have to say is, we're ready to go. As some of you know, last year we got a Sun-Mar 200 Home Composter and ended up with zero results at the end of the summer (apparently because our composter wasn't full enough?) Well, we've been adding stuff all winter, and let me tell you, it's full enough. If we don't have compost by June, we're out of excuses, and it was a failed experiment. I, of course, remain hopeful...

The Sustainable Goods Results: Here's where I'll rate the success of our various small household changes and how well we've stuck to them over the year. Click on the titles to review last year's posts:

The Lightbulb Change
We haven't replaced every single lightbulb yet (hence the 4 stars instead of 5), but we love our CFLs. They start out a little dim when you turn on the light, but within a minute or so, they're up to speed. I haven't had to change a single one. They're awesome.


The Yogurt Change
I've been really good about this one. If you remember, the change was to bring a regular spoon to work instead of using a plastic one for my yogurt. I eat yogurt at work at least 3 or 4 days a week, so I estimate that I've saved somewhere between 140-180 plastic spoons from the landfill just since June 2007!


The Sponge Change
These biodegradable pop-up sponges were definitely my favorite change of the year. Because they're so fun to expand! My estimate: we sent 45 fewer sponges to the landfill since June. As I mentioned last year, they don't have the scraping/scrubbing action of the heavy-duty store bought sponges, but between these and a scrub brush, I haven't come across a single thing I couldn't clean.


The Leftover Change
We haven't been the best at this one. We've definitely reduced the quantity of plastic bags and saran wrap that we use, but we haven't been able to totally shake the habit. We do, however, have a ridiculous number of saved yogurt and other containers spilling out of our cupboards, just waiting to be used. Hm.


The Napkin Change
I'd say we've been pretty good about moving to cloth napkins. We use them most of the time. But after a year, I'm not 100% sure about this one. What do you think is worse--the number of paper napkins that get thrown away, or the load of laundry that you do with all the cloth napkins? The cloth napkins seem like the way to go, but then when I'm loading them into the washer, I'm not so sure. Any thoughts?

Well, that's where we stand. Over the next few weeks, I'll try to remember to post some other successes, failures, and discoveries we've made on the sustainable goods front (for instance, our disastrous experiment with earth-friendly dishwasher detergent).

If you've tried any sustainable solutions that are working in your home, please share!

How to Compost: The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two

Here is the complete How to Compost series in case you'd like to catch up or review:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

For those of you who are looking for the final word on the Sun-Mar 200 Garden Composter, I will warn you right now, I don't have it. But I'll tell you as much as I can.

Note (11/2): If you have used a Sun-Mar composter, please feel free to add your voice to the comments below. There's not much customer feedback on this product right now, so let's create some! :)

So as you know from Part One of this review, I began composting in May and have yet to see compost from my Sun-Mar. Before I get into the exciting customer service drama, let's talk a little bit about how the Sun-Mar appears to work. It's supposed to be continuous compost, which means as opposed to other systems where you have to wait for an entire batch to finish composting, you can add stuff continuously *and* get compost at the same time. Brilliant.

To achieve this feat, there is an outer drum and an inner drum. You put the garbage into the outer drum. Eventually, the compost will make it's way to the inner drum where you simply empty it into your barrel as in the illustration above. Here's a more detailed illustration (you can click on it to make it bigger):



So once a month or so, I would check the inner drum. Inside would be a few pieces of garbage, totally dried out from being in the inner drum, but certainly not compost. And since I had learned that moisture was a necessary part of the mix, I would shove the dried out garbage back into the outer drum (where everything seems to be decomposing quite nicely) and wait some more.

Around August, I started to get a little impatient. I emailed Sun Mar customer service to see if this was normal. No response.

Around September, I tried the customer service email address again. This time throwing out the "I'm writing a review" phrase in hopes that it would get a response. No luck.

At the beginning of October, Reba (visit her organic farm here), who works for the terrific company that sold us the Sun-Mar (and who, as a former union organizer, has a lower threshold for being ignored) called Sun-Mar directly.

After a *long* discussion, here's essentially what the Sun Mar representative said:

• First, the composter needs to be almost full
• Then, the garbage will fill up the inner drum
• Once the inner drum is full, the material inside (aided by the heat from the full outer drum around it) will begin to compost
• As the material decomposes, it shrinks down, so you can keep adding more garbage as the process continues

Ok. Logically, this makes sense. So my composter (which is currently just over half full) needs to fill up and the inner drum needs to fill up, and *then* I can wait for the compost. So I need to add a lot more garbage before I start to see results.

But let me just say (and please tell me if you disagree) this is *not* what it looks like in either of the diagrams.

Let me also point out that the Sun-Mar representative was incredibly rude and impatient throughout the conversation. Reba told me that at one point he exclaimed something along the lines of:

"If you knew anything about how composting works, you would understand this."

At which point she lost her patience and retorted:

"I am a farmer!"

Now to be fair, the person she talked to was not a customer service representative. He said he was filling in because they were short-staffed and didn't have anyone else to do it.

Still, it is not that difficult to be courteous.

So I'll keep adding garbage to the composter through the winter, and in the Spring, I'm going to expect some serious composting action. I'll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, some advice for Sun-Mar, in case they're reading:

• Be more clear in your materials
• Answer your emails
  
• Staff your customer service desk
• Lose the attitude: BE COURTEOUS
  

I can't emphasize the last point enough, as simple as it may seem. You may have the best product on the planet, but if you are continuously rude, I'm not going to buy anything from you in the future. If you're kind and courteous, patient and helpful, I will not only become a repeat customer, but I will probably tell everyone I know. It's not rocket science.

How to Compost: The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One

Remember this whole How to Compost for Home & Garden series? If you weren't hanging around Please Come Flying when I started it, here's the recap: my husband and I decided to try composting this summer for the first time. So, according to Fred Horch's rules of composting, we:

#1 Made it a priority
#2 Chose a system (the Sun-Mar 200 Garden Composter)
#3 Collected organic material (with a healthy mix of greens & browns)
#4 Mixed the materials
#5 Moistened the mixture (but not too much)

And then we hit #6: Wait. And wait we did. May. June. July. September. Is it *really* October?

So why didn't we get any compost, you may ask? Good question.

While I was waiting for results, I had some emails from other Sun-Mar composter-users who were also waiting for results. I also had some emails from people who were *thinking* about buying a Sun-Mar and wanted to know how it was going. Why were they asking me of all people? Because there are virtually no customer reviews out there for this composter. Even now, months later, I still can't find out what customers think of the Sun-Mar 200.

So I guess it's up to me. Before I get into the heart of the matter (the compost), let's have a review of the claims from the Sun-Mar brochure to see how they stand up (the purple bullets are from the Sun-Mar literature, my comments are in black).

Next week, in Part Two of this review, I will tackle the biggies: Continuous Compost, the Inner Drum, and Customer Service.

They claim:

• Easy to feed: Material goes in through easy-access top ports. This is true. Sometimes the sliding door can get a little sticky. You just have to pull harder. And as the material accumulates and the composter gets heavier, you sometimes have to balance the barrel to keep it upright while dumping the garbage in. Otherwise, the extra weight you are adding can cause it to start rotating against your will. But after that happens once, you learn pretty quickly to brace the barrel with a hand or knee. Overall, it is very easy to feed.
  
• Back-saving ball bearings mean easy turning. Again, true. The bigger models have handles to turn the barrel with. The 200 has what Sun-Mar calls "finger friendly slots" that you grip to spin the barrel. As it gets fuller, it definitely gets heavier (obviously), but so far, it's been easy enough to turn (and strength is not one of my best qualities).
  
• Patented, double drum, Autoflow® design. See diagrams of the inside (This is one of the biggies...I'll get to this in Part Two of this review.)
• Compost exits automatically as the drum rotates: Fresh compost comes out the bottom port, automatically, when done. Tool free, shovel free, fork free! Again, we'll talk about this later, but yes, so far it has been entirely tool free, shovel free, fork free!
• Pest Proof. So far, so good. No critters have been able to penetrate it...not even the enterprising squirrel that has made a sweet little seed-stash in Kevin's outdoor grill. There are, of course, flies and gnats and all those lovely creatures, but they are working hard on making compost. They are also relatively contained to the *inside* of the composter.
  
• Assembly in minutes (really!): Just snap the cradle on to the drum bearings and you’re ready to go. Yes. Simple. It has wheels that snap in easily and you can move it around the yard with no trouble at all.

So I've been pretty happy with it, I have to say. Simple, easy to use, no critters. What more could you ask for? So now there's just the pesky little problem of compost. Let's discuss next week, shall we?

In the meantime...anyone out there use a Sun-Mar this summer? How did it go? Leave a comment and let us all know.

Here is the complete How to Compost series in case you'd like to catch up or review:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

How to Compost Interlude: The Napkin Change

Moisture Matters. I think one of the reasons it's taking so long for our compost is that it's been too dry. Remember when I wrote about how it's supposed to be as wet as a wrung out sponge, and I believe my exact words were:

Now, I highly doubt I will be reaching into the tumbler full of rotting garbage and squeezing it to test the water level.

Well, guess what I did yesterday? You bet. And even with all the rain we've had, our rotting garbage was not nearly as wet as a wrung out sponge. Dry dry dry. So I put some water in (hopefully not too much) and I'm hoping that will help.

The napkin change. So for the newest waste-reducing change in our house, we are finally putting some use to all the pretty cloth napkins that people gave us for our wedding, years ago.

We've been using (and throwing away) paper towels as napkins for years & years, and now we're going to switch to cloth. Toss them in the wash with the rest of the laundry and reuse them. Again, seems so simple that I'm a little embarrassed I haven't been doing it all along, but hey. I come around eventually.

Weed out the Weeds. Here's an interesting post over at Green Options about non-chemical ways to get rid of weeds. Warning: she does say that the best way is still to pull them by hand. But there are other helpful tips and suggestions as well.

Here is the complete How to Compost series in case you'd like to catch up or review:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

How to Compost Interlude: The Leftover Change

Here's just another small change we've been making in our house to try to reduce the amount of non-compostable waste we produce.

In the past, our leftovers went in ziploc bags or got covered up with saran wrap, right? Well, of course those bags and wrap would go straight into the trash when the leftovers were gone.

So now I've been saving big yogurt containers and other reusable plastic containers (the feta cheese containers are good ones because you can see through them) and trying to put all our leftovers in those, then wash and reuse them.

It seems almost too simple to even write about, but I was stuck in the ziploc habit because it seemed so convenient. As it turns out, using a small little container isn't really much more difficult. And it's not only reducing the amount of trash we're creating, it's also reusing some of the plastic that already comes into our house. Things my grandmother used to do to save a little cash always turn out to be smart in more ways than one.

In other news, here is a great post on 10 Tips for Organic Gardening with Children (thanks to Sustainable Table blog for the link!)

Here is the complete How to Compost series in case you'd like to catch up or review:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

How to Compost Interlude: The Sponge Change

The sponge example: Ok, this one might just be fun for me, but I thought I'd share it anyway. You know those heavy duty power sponges, the dual kind that have sponge on the bottom and hard scrubby surface on the top that will take an inch of grease & grime off a pan that has been sitting in the sink for a month? As you know, I have a meticulously clean husband, and as soon as that sponge starts to think about harboring germs, it gets tossed (there is actually research to support his habit). And these highly synthetic sponges, of course, are not biodegradable.

So I went down to our local sustainable goods store and got these supercool biodegradable "pop-up" sponges. Here's what's cool about them: they come in the size and shape of a popsicle-stick, and when you put them under water they expand into a sponge--just like those little sponge-pills you used to get as a kid that turned into an animal or a boat when submerged in water. It's awesome. Oh, and they can go right in your composter. (I tried to find a picture online with no luck, so you'll have to use your imagination, or go down to your natural foods store to see if they have some.)

It's not quite as heavy duty on the scrubbing action as the old sponges, but so far, I haven't had anything it couldn't clean.

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

How to Compost Interlude: The Yogurt Change

Since my compost project is going a little slower than planned due to the lovely Maine spring "thaw," I'm currently stuck in Step 6: Wait. So while I'm being patient, I'm posting on some small changes that composting has caused in my household...

The yogurt change: Almost every day I bring a yogurt to work for my mid-morning snack. I grab a plastic spoon from the office kitchen, eat my yogurt, and toss the spoon in the garbage can. Now that we've been composting at home, I've been more aware that those spoons are never going to break down. It might seem obviously wasteful to some, but for me, it was just a convenient habit. So now every morning, I throw a regular spoon in my bookbag. Simple. Easy. And that's an average of four or five fewer plastic spoons in the landfill each week. 260 fewer every year!

Jeremy Faludi on WorldChanging.com gives a link to biodegradable plastic silverware (made out of corn, I believe)...just in time for summer picnics! They apparently will decompose within a year.

And here is a fascinating article from National Geographic about the amount of plastic that is found in the ocean. According to the article, more than a million seabirds and 100,000 mammals and sea turtles die globally each year from either eating or getting tangled in plastics. Richard Thompson, a marine ecology lecturer, says:

"Plastics have a wide range of indispensable uses, from telephones to radio sets, but those aren't the products we're finding on the beaches. What we are finding, increasingly, are plastic bottles, caps, bits of packaging—disposable items which are used once and then thrown away...There's a challenge here for all of us to be more careful in the way we use and dispose of plastic."

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

How to Compost Interlude: The Lightbulb Change

So now that I've been composting for a few weeks, I've become a little bit more aware of the things that I throw away. Every time I throw something out in the regular garbage can, I start to wonder if there's an alternative that could have been composted, or at least thrown out less often. So while I'm waiting for nature to work its magic and create compost, I thought I'd spend the next few weeks posting about some of the little changes that are going on in our household.

#1: The Lightbulb Change

Over the last couple months, as bulbs go out in the house, we have been replacing them with compact flourescent lightbulbs (CFLs). According to the EnergyStar Website CFLs:

• Use at least 2/3 less energy than standard incandescent bulbs
• Provide the same amount of light
• Last up to 10 times longer
  
• Save $30 or more in energy costs over each bulb’s lifetime
• Generate 70 percent less heat, so they’re safer to operate and can cut energy costs associated with home cooling

One of the misconceptions I had was that CFLs are prohibitively expensive. True, we paid around $4-5 per bulb (Maine has an instant rebate program for CFLs...I think the regular price was around $7-8). But when you keep in mind that you won't need to buy another for 7-10 years, and you'll be saving $30 or more in energy costs over that same time period, it's actually more cost-conscious to buy the CFLs.

Check out Josh Spear's Talk Shop Friday pitch for CFLs. He thinks consumers have a negative association with the word "flourescent," which may be true.

I should also note that while I never paid much attention to CFLs in the past, apparently the more recent versions are far more appealing in both light, style, and cost.

18Seconds.org is an interesting site where you can type in your zip code and see all kinds of information about CFL use in your town. For instance, in Brunswick, Maine: 20,403 CFLs have been purchased since Jan 1, 2007. According to the site, this amount of reduced energy use also reduces greenhouse gases by the equivalent of taking 78 cars off the road. The site also has some good information on what CFL bulbs are, how to choose a bulb, and why you should switch (click on the "Why You Should Switch" link in the top right-hand corner). You need an updated flash player to view the site, but it only takes a minute to download.

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

How to Compost #6: Wait

"Patience is the companion of wisdom." ~St. Augustine

Now that Spring has honestly arrived in Maine, I'm guessing that if I can achieve a good balance of Greens & Browns and introduce enough (but not too much) oxygen and water into my composter, I should have compost for my garden sometime in June. Then, theoretically, since we went with the continuous composter system, I should be able to continue to add waste to the composter and collect compost all summer long. Theoretically.

In the meantime, I'll keep you posted on progress, tips, tricks or foibles.

Also, you'll notice that I've added Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review to my table of contents list. Since I wasn't able to find any significant consumer reviews about this continuous composter when we were looking at systems, I feel it is my civic duty to post a review of my own after I've had a chance to see whether it works or not, and how well.

In the meantime, here are a couple interesting articles:

• The Daily Californian on the benefits and obstacles of city-wide compost programs

• Cool interview with Tony Vecchio of the Oregon Zoo about Sustainability Practices at the Zoo (really!) And you've got to love an interview with a guy who is a member of the Pig Advisory Group of the Zoo Association (really!)

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

How to Compost #5: Moisten the Mixture

Yes, your compost pile needs water in order to decompose, but the question is: How much?

Here's the (simple) way I understand it (thanks much to books like Let it Rot! and extensive sites like the University of Illinois' Composting for the Homeowner):

There are organisms that live in your compost pile. These organisms do the work of decomposing all the waste materials you put in your pile, and some of these little guys need water to live. If your compost pile is too dry, they will begin to suffocate and die off, and your compost process will slow down dramatically.

But if your pile is too wet, the water will begin to force the air out of the compost pile and you will have the problem I described last week...rotten egg or other bad smells, and general slowing of the compost.

So how do you know? Well, most things I've read say that your pile should be as wet as a wrung out sponge. The University of Illinois site says to pick up a handful and squeeze it...it should feel damp to the touch and only a few drops of water should squeeze out.

Now, I highly doubt I will be reaching into the tumbler full of rotting garbage and squeezing it to test the water level. I don't gross out too easily, but I just don't see that one happening. I think I'll just eyeball it, and if it looks like it's sopping wet, I'll add some shredded paper and other browns. If it looks like it's not wet at all, I'll get out my watering can and moisten it up.

One more thing. If you're using a tumbler or other enclosed system, make sure it's not airtight. Most are built with some ventilation and this allows both air and rain water to get in. That should be enough moisture for your compost, but keep an eye on it (or give it the squeeze test if you're braver than I am) and you should be all set.

In other news, students at my alma mater have put together a YouTube video about Dan the Can to promote awareness about the new single-stream recycling system in Brunswick, Maine. The students are hoping to get 1000 views by the end of April, and as of today they had 972...you could help push them past their goal!

Thanks to Earthworks for the handy microorganism visual!

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

How to Compost #4: Mix the Materials

First off, a thoughtful, interesting article was posted at the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday. It's called You Cannot Save the Earth by columnist Mark Morford. Check out the article and if you have any thoughts/opinions (I do, of course), please post a comment & let me know what you think. Thanks to Tom's Music Film Ohio Politics n Stuff for the link!

So, turning the compost. I am already weeks behind the idyllic composting schedule I had set up in my mind when I started this thing. I figured, begin in March, have compost in May, just in time for Spring planting! Except I didn't factor in one important element: Maine weather.

The reason you turn a compost pile is to make it decompose faster. When you turn the pile (either in a tumbler or with a pitchfork if you have a basic pile) oxygen goes in, carbon dioxide waste is able to be released, and your garbage decomposes faster. Also, if your compost begins to smell like rotten eggs, turning it (giving it more oxygen) will make the smell go away (at least, this is what I am told). Want a more scientific explanation? Visit the Cornell University site.

You can never turn your compost and it will still decompose. But it may take a year or more. The more you turn it, the quicker you'll see results. My plan was to turn our composter every couple of days, aiming for finished compost in 6-12 weeks.

Of course that was my plan. Until I could no longer access my backyard because of the giant snow mountain created by our (much-appreciated, don't get me wrong!) neighborhood snow plow. And then during the torrential rains that followed (knocking out lots of electricity and our roof shingles, not to mention flooding our basement), I somehow didn't feel like heading out to check on the compost.

But today! Honestly. Truly. Beautiful sunshine! Wispy, white clouds! Our composter has been turned. Based on the fully intact and healthy-looking carrots we deposited a couple weeks ago, no progress has been made in the compost bin since March. I blame cold temperatures and lack of turning. Kevin blames the State of Maine for their inaction against the unacceptable weather conditions (can't somebody do something about all this snow?)

Soon, though. I think the worst is over. My new goal: compost in June. That's still plenty of summer to use compost in my garden, right?

Here's the link to the Time Magazine article "51 Things We Can Do to Save the Environment" that Mark Morford mentioned in his SFC article.

On a smaller, less global scale, here's a link to a simple, short, and handy list of What to do in the Garden in April.

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

How to Compost #3: Collect Organic Material

Collect Organic Material. This is an interesting step, and for those of you who really like biology and research and want to bring your nitrogen and carbon ratios to a level of molecular and scientific perfection...I really can't help you much. I can point you to a couple short articles: this from EarthWorks and this from How Stuff Works. I guarantee you can find lots of composting books at the library that will further quench your thirst for knowledge.

But very basically and simply, you need a few important ingredients in order to make compost:

• Oxygen
• Water
• Heat
  
• Browns (Carbon)
• Greens (Nitrogen)

Oxygen: Organic material needs to be exposed to oxygen in order to break down. This is why turning your compost pile or tumbler on a regular basis will speed up the process.

Water: Some moisture is necessary for composting. If your pile is too dry, it will take a long time to decompose.

Heat: You need to collect enough organic material so that your pile will create its own heat. Your compost pile won't really get hot until there is a fair sized amount, but then it will really heat up...sometimes up to 150 degrees!

Browns: This is the carbon part of the mix. Woody and leafy materials like:

• leaves
• twigs
• straw
• paper

These things can take a long time to break down, but you can speed the process by shredding them. We have a paper shredder in the kitchen where we go through the mail. Our junk mail goes directly into the shredder, and then into the composter. As mentioned in Step 2, our dump has a compost pile for leaves, twigs, grass, and other yard clippings. Since leaves take a while to decompose, we're just bringing those to the dump, and sticking with the shredded paper for our browns. I will, of course, let you know how that pans out.

Greens: The nitrogen portion of your compost pile are the "fresh" ingredients. These are things like kitchen scraps and grass clippings. We got a little compost pail for our kitchen that has a filter on the top so it won't smell(at $30, the filtered pail was worth it!) It sits next to the sink and we dump our kitchen scraps right in there. When it's full, we bring it out to the compost bin.

NOTE: My husband, as I mentioned in a previous post, likes things to be impeccably clean. The thought of constantly cleaning out a pail of rotting food waste was pretty disgusting to him. So. We got BioBags. Seriously, these are 100% biodegradable bags (made out of corn) that you can put right in your composter. We line the pail with a BioBag, then when the pail is full, simply take the bag out to the composter (be sure to empty the bag into the composter instead of just tossing it in full...everything will decompose much faster if it's loose), rinse out the pail, and that's that. No muss, no fuss.

THE RATIO: I've read some conflicting information on what your brown to green ratio should be. The basic rule is, you should have more browns than greens. If the compost smells (apparently it shouldn't...Kevin is very skeptical, but so far we have no smell), just add more browns. If it's not doing anything, add more greens.

There are some things that you do not want to put in your composter. To name a few:

• Coal ash
• Cat litter
• Grease
  
• Anything with disinfectant (baby wipes, paper towel with Windex on it)...this will kill all the bacteria in your compost

I've seen conflicting reports about whether you should add meat or not. It will decompose, but it may attract animals, and it may coat things with grease which will slow down the process. We're going to avoid it for now.

CompostGuide.com has a great list. If you scroll down, there is a chart that lists what can be composted, what you should be careful of, and what you should avoid. There are some really interesting and helpful things on the list. For instance, it says to avoid lime. Now, do they mean lime like you put on your lilac trees, or lime like you squeeze into a margarita? 'Cause I think we've put at least 5 lime rinds in our compost already. If my whole experiment fails miserably, I'm going to blame it on the limes! The CompostGuide.com chart also tells you which items are carbon and which are nitrogen.

Here's a list of 163 things you can compost by Marion Owen, a woman who writes a blog about gardening in Alaska. So for those of you who live in places where it is STILL SNOWING IN APRIL, this could be a useful site. Though I'm not going to tell Kevin about what Marion calls "the surprise at the end" of the list...I think that's a bit more than we can handle right now!

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

How to Compost Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter

So, this week we drove up to my husband's former and much-beloved place of employ, Shelter Institute in Woolwich, Maine. At Shelter, still slightly skeptical, we purchased the floor model of the high-tech (it's all relative) supposedly continuous Sun-Mar 200 Series Garden Composter (doesn't it sound like a space ship?)

SIDE NOTE: A quick plug for the Shelter Institute...they are a very cool timber framing company that is also a school and a shop. You can go there and learn how to design, build, plumb, wire, and finish your own house. It's pretty spectacular.

Anyway, skepticism and all, we completed Step 2: Choose a System and I was completely ready to write today about Fred Horch's Step 3: Collect Organic Materials.

However, instead, on April 5th, I am going to go out and shovel a foot of snow and try to clean up all the falling branches that very nearly killed my brand new Sun-Mar 200.

In the meantime, for your reading pleasure, here's a fun link to a blog that gives you an astonishing number of ways to reuse your coffee grounds. (Kate goes way beyond composting. Try scrubbing pans, fridge deodorizer, playdough, a Halloween "beard"?...and that's just scratching the surface!) And here's one from Mom Is Teaching about how composting & other dirty hands-on fun can be a great way to teach science to kids.

Stay tuned for Step 3 next week.

THIS IS APRIL 5TH, PEOPLE!:
Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review