April 2013 What Have You Fed Your Compost Today?

11 years ago

rainwater!
yum!

dumped out a bunch of containers that I had left right side up just before the rain.

also
torn-up fluted paper cups from a package of cookies
coffee debris as usual
soggy kleenex
bag of autumn leaves I snagged off the curb

& what have you fed *your* compost today???

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Comments (12)

Prachi
11 years ago
Bag of coffee grounds from starbucks.... finally found one that puts out regular bags of "grounds for your garden" without having to ask.
harveyhorses
11 years ago
Coffee grounds, egg shells,potato skins and some cores from tomatoes that were frozen with them. That was today.
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luckygal
11 years ago
Tea bags, coffee grounds and paper filter, orange and banana peels, apple cores, carrot and beet peels, kale ribs, egg shells, paper towels, and cat hair.

Compost pile started last fall is now free of snow so soon time to add all winter's accumulation to the pile once the ground dries a bit more!
batyabeth
11 years ago
oh, boy the last week was Passover, we eat like it's going out of style: ex-fruit salads, mountains of veggie peels, eggshells, literally buckets of kitchen waste, tea bags, a truly great deal of UCG's (lots of guests), and the fuzz from de-fuzzing an all-wool felted basket I've recently made.

I'm out of mulch, out of browns, and am searching out whatever leaves I can find. Will need a bag or 2 of shredded paper from work again. The rains have stopped and the ground has started to bake into brick. Piles of dry, pulled weeds, nearly all with seeds. But the greens keep a'coming..............
batyabeth
11 years ago
And a lot of old, nasty tofu.................
sylviatexas1
Original Author
11 years ago
"the fuzz from de-fuzzing an all-wool felted basket I've recently made"

I ask you, where else could a person read something like this?

I love this place!

Ahem.

paper napkins that accumulated in the car

bits of soil, ditto
(from hauling fresh-dug plants from the site of 3 old houses that were torn down)

spent iris blooms

the usual coffee debris
(grounds, filters, leftover coffee)

cardboard core from paper towels
(I hardly ever use paper towels, so the micro-critters hardly ever get this kind of thing-it's a treat for them!)
PKponder TX Z7B
11 years ago
6 mower bags (so far) of dried oak leaves, rye grass and weeds. Oh yeah, time to empty the kitchen pail.
Raw_Nature
11 years ago
Putting in a no till strawberry bed - so i will have grass clippings and going to the woods to cut down saplings trees to make raised beds.. While I'm out there, I'll grab a bunch of dead cattail stalks and throw that in the compost.. Also got a huge pile of shredded leaves from last fall for mulch, but I can't resists throwing some in the compost! Oh and how could i forget the kitchen scraps! You know it's bad when you go to the store and buy stuff that will go good in the compost pile! Oh I'll be peeling this cucumber,the peel would be great for the compost, let's buy a dozen to throw in the compost! Aye, at least your not wasting food, it'll always be recycled in the compost! So many funny stories...

Joe
paleogardener
11 years ago
Dead headed salvias and monkeyflowers
Bloomed out stems of esperanza
Potato bush prunings
Bolted spinach & cilantro
Clover and various other weeds
Some rotten wood
UCG's & egg shells
Old Mac n cheese

* Burp* ... sounds like he's happy!
Raw_Nature
11 years ago
That compost wants filet mignon, not old Mac n cheese! You better treat her right!
nc_crn
11 years ago
Pasta (cooked) is fine in compost...especially if you have worms in your pile. Worms love a good helping of carbs while eating on other things.

The dairy/oil isn't in a great enough amount to do anything negative unless your pile is too small to handle it.

I've been composting pasta and small amounts of dairy-attached foods for years with no issue, even in winter.

My piles are large enough to handle animal fats, but I exclude them because they take too long to break down...same for bones, but they're perfectly good for most decent sized piles in non-rodent composting areas...or if you don't care that rodents help "turn" your pile for you...which, amazingly to me some people welcome.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Mon, Apr 8, 13 at 0:13
sylviatexas1
Original Author
11 years ago
I think it depends on your location & at least partly on the nearness of neighbors & maybe on your personality.

I couldn't tolerate rodents here in town, but if I were in a country/rural setting, & I had barn cats, rodents in the compost wouldn't bother me.

I've known type-A people, though, who couldn't have rested until the compost pile had been secured against all invaders!

I've been on a "Cutie" binge (small oranges, not sure if they're mandarins or what but I recommend them highly), so my compost has been getting *lots* of lovely orange peel in addition to its ho-hum daily coffee, filters, & grounds.