I see where the original poster is coming from. Tumblers are not as cheap as they should be and they don't process as much as an open bin can. For people living in a city though in either a condo, townhome, or a house with a small plot of land it's a good way to process the small amount of food scraps they produce. I have one and I'd definitely prefer to have a several cubic yard bin instead. If for no other reason so I could do true "hot composting". I've had it go stinky once when I was first learning and remedied it with some dry leaves and shredded paper. It's a batch system though so you have to let it finish cooking before you can use it. Initially that meant I stored all my scraps in the freezer for about a month while the bin finished. Now though I have a Vermicompost bin that I use to finish the compost. This way I don't care if the tumbler gets 100% finished as long as it gets close enough that the worms like it. It's not an ideal solution but it reduces the waste my family puts in the land full and it produces some good compost for our vegetable garden. Maybe someday I'll have a bigger piece of property so I can do a big bin, but for the foreseeable future, I'm happy wig how the Tumbler works into my garden system.

I can offer you some amount of encouragement, but I havenÂt composted with only grounds & paper, not yet at least. Yes, it is very easy to over water; I would suggest resisting the urge to use a garden hose full blast in the tumbler. Here is what I might do: load the tumbler ¼ with shredded paper, add a couple of bags of coffee & give it a spin to mix. At this point take a handful of material and ask does it feel damp? If squeezed does it drip more than a few drops of water? Use a watering can if needed, then add the rest of materials while still turning and checking, Remember that is easy to add more water tomorrow than to contend with a too wet load. Next is the small question of diversity. Might I suggest a little seaweed from the Presidio, crab shells from FishermanÂs Wharf & a bag of leaves from Golden Gate, plus the usual kitchen scraps. My money is on that you will have heat in the next 24 hrs! I prefer to think positive whilst starting the tumbler.

I have both a large tumbler and a ground pile. As long as the tumbler remains about 1/4 - 1/3 capacity, it's easy to turn and would go easy on your back. We use this as our "stage one" in composting as the tumbler is conveniently located behind the garage. We haven't had good results using it as a complete composter though. Because it's mostly kitchen scraps, I routinely add pelletized sawdust (wood stove fuel) for browns. It's cheap ($3 for a 20lb bag), convenient, breaks down nicely, absorbs excess moisture and does a great job heating up the tumbler. This is a must if you add kitchen scrapes to the tumbler over the winter/cold season. (Frozen compost is VERY heavy, and almost impossible to turn without causing tumbler damage) A pile (our stage-2 compost) isn't overly difficult, but body position certainly matters. I spear with a fork with straight arms and back, and then lift with my legs and turn over the fork in a supported position. Excessive unsupported twisting is what makes my back hurt like crazy. But because we have a 2-stage approach, I honestly don't need to turn the ground pile much at all. Maybe 2x per season, more during fall cleanup when we add lots of grass/leaves/ bulk coffee grounds, etc. If i want to do a full "fluff up", I'll use my front loader...but those times are rare. Forking is usually plenty. FYI: we routinely produce 6-8 yards of finished compost annually using this approach. Composting takes time. You don't have to wait 1-2 yrs, but you certainly arn't going to get garden-ready compost in 2-3 weeks like some tumbler or bin producers like to claim. That's just not possible. 4-6 months, yes. Weeks? No. If time matters - just buy it in bags.

You may live near a saw mill, a wood-working or cabinet shop, or another business which produces clean sawdust as a waste. Many people use tree leaves. When shredded (passing over them with a lawn mower for instance,) they are excellent sources of quickly-deteriorating 'browns'. Wood chips from tree trimmers work well. They are often more bulky than just a small tumbler will need, but on the other hand, if you have a small section of a yard where you can keep a pile, they decompose quickly on their own also, and make a good mulch material.