The Toilet Papers by Sim Van der Ryn

Author:Sim Van der Ryn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781603581301
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Published: 2011-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5.

Household Composting

The idea of composting your own waste is intimately tied to managing all wastes in your household. Together with the composting privy, these form an integrated approach to recyling all organic wastes. Notes on aerobic methods and design of composting bins were prepared by Bill and Helga Olkowski.

CHOOSING A LOCATION AND MAKING BINS

If possible, select a shady place so the piles will not dry out too quickly. The north side of the house or garage is often perfect. The ideal setup would be a ground area three or four feet wide and from nine to twelve feet long so at least three wooden bins can be constructed, each approximately a cubic yard in size.

The fronts of the bins should be made of removable boards, allowing easy entry as the contents are emptied. The sides and floor of the bins should fit as tightly as possible so bits of organic matter cannot fall through and provide overlooked fly breeding material underneath and outside the bins. Fit the lids tightly to keep out the rain. Keep one bin for storage of matter to be composted—general garden debris, but not manures or kitchen garbage—while you toss the going pile back and forth with a pitchfork between the two remaining bins.

You can expect your compost, made by the following method, to take about three weeks to complete.

Building the Pile

Start with some absorbent material on the bottom of the bin. Sawdust is good and you can easily obtain it from lumber yards, cabinet shops, high school woodworking classes. Then put down layers of green and dry matter and manure, if you are using it. If you use some other nitrogen source, sprinkle it over the layers as you go along. Make a three to five inch layer of each of your materials until the bin is full.

The smaller the size of the materials you put in, the more surface area you expose, and the faster the pile will decompose. For this reason you may wish to chop up coarse materials—melon rinds, dry weeds, stalks or straw—into shorter lengths (five to eight inches) with a cleaver.

When you have finished building the pile, you should have about a cubic yard of material. A smaller pile will not hold the heat adequately; a larger one is rather much to turn.

After you have built your pile, you may need to water it. It should be moist but not too wet, as there needs to be plenty of air throughout the pile. No liquid should run out the bottom. If this should happen at any time, put a thick layer of sawdust into the adjoining bin and turn the pile over into that bin to trap the juices.

Turning the Pile

After you have built the pile, let it sit a day or so. Then, with a pitchfork turn the compost into the neighboring bin, examining it while you do so. Turn the top, bottom and sides of the old pile into the center of the new bin, the center of the old around the edges of the new.

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