Composting Update!

Finally, the composter looks like it’s going to work. Over the last while we weren’t sure if it would start to decompose kitchen waste and leaves that we’d put in it, but in the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed the contents are starting to turn brown.

I’ve turned the compost a couple of times now (not an unpleasant experience). The advice I’ve read is that this mixes the newer material with the older stuff and starts to decompose it more quickly. Also, we have a thriving population of slugs living on the sides of the composter - I assume that these are just feasting on the contents and are helping the process along.

The compost is changing, too. I’d say at the moment it’s a little too wet. Apparently this can be countered by adding some shredded up newspaper, so I might enlist the kids to help me with this during the week.

I’ve also noticed that, as the contents decompose, the level in the composting bin reduces. I’d say at current rate, we could probably work with kitchen scraps from a couple of other families. Our bin is sitting at less than a third full. We might try and get some of the in-laws roped into saving potato peels and mouldy fruit to add to this.