I tend to take it out to the compost cage in most weather. If it's really blizzarding or storming, I have a compost tumbler close to the kitchen door. I don't use it a lot most of the year, but sometimes during the winter it's just too crappy out, lol.

You could take that not too good apartment composter idea and add some worms...

Thanks for sharing the composter upgrade diagram. Seems like this type of system would generate odors and moisture...atmospheric, in addition to the drip pan below. Looks like an outstanding way to compost small waste quantities like my needs would be but would it really work inside?

Maybe I just need to get a pet hog :>)

Because hog poo does not smell? Hehehe. Seriously though, a worm composter should not be smelly- if it is, you are doing it wrong. The scraps get covered, and should not be exposed to smell. If you use too many scraps and they rot before the worms can eat it all, that can be an issue- less scraps or more worms. A goodly setup should smell like nothing or just damp earth. People have them indoors and outdoors. Though they can freeze in the winter outdoors if they aren't protected. I've never come across commentary about there being issues with air humidity in relation to them- they should be damp, not drippy wet. And except for air holes, it's a more closed system.

Your tube in the ground idea runs on the same thing. You drop the scraps in, and the worms come and eat it. But use 6" pipe and drill some holes in it. Called a worm tower or worm tube if you want to look that up.

I will put the worm tray compost concept in mind. I might even be able to make it a closed system to the inside of the house and provide vent lines to the exterior. That should be fairly easy since my home is on pier and beam and venting would not be too moist to go under the house.

I picked up some rabbit manure one year for my fruit trees. I was FLOORED at how many earthworms were in it.

SO, let's consider the pipe-to-outside concept. Has anyone done that? I like the concept of something like popping off a lid and dropping refuse in it that will slide outside, perhaps with a splash of water, and be done with it. I suppose this material could fall into an earthworm system as per above, only it would be in a space under the house rather than under my cabinet.

BTW, pigs are pretty smart. Maybe I could give it a key to the washroom.

You already have a pipe to outside concept where you take off the lid, and drop refuse with a spash of water to slide it out. It's your toilet and septic system. Note you aren't supposed to put food in the system and it's not meant for worms or composting.

I think you may be overthinking this a bit.

I don't have this countertop composter, but I'm fascinated by it!! It might be perfect for you...

I also was going to suggest Lomi. I wish it weren't so expensive.

Right, I haven't googled it lately but I'm pretty sure I have read that we risk overloading our onsite sewer with a disposal/insinkerator, whatever. That being said, I did state my disposal needs are small so perhaps it wouldn't be significant.

Yes, I may be overthinking but it occurred to me that now would be the time to incorporate ideas into my plans. I don't like the lidded bowl in the kitchen concept and don't want to attract unwanted insects into my house from forgotten banana peels on the counter.

Thanks for the Lomi notes. Eek! It is kind of pricey at around $300, possibly wanting some of the accessories like carbon filters but it's a new product for me.

I have the worm trays but the system is set up outside under some bushes. While the waste is waiting to go out I use a stainless steel canister with a glass lid. I line it with a paper sandwich bag (cuts down on fruit flies). The canister can go in the dishwasher periodically

Yes, the price is why I haven't tried the Lomi myself. But if you compare the price of building a tube into your house vs. the Lomi, maybe it won't feel as bad. ;)

I did homemade a worm bin, too. It worked great until I tried to feed them too many watermelon rinds -- their favorite, but I was a little overenthusiastic; they couldn't keep up; the rinds turned into something horrendous; the worms all died; and I ended up throwing the whole thing out! ha I'm also in CA so I could keep it outside all year. Do you need to bring them in during cold winters?

Outdoor compost bins shouldn’t smell as long as the green/brown ratio is reasonable. Too few browns and it can go anaerobic, but that is easy to avoid. Fall leaves are pretty good for browns. We have a couple of 3’ cube compost piles (held together with chicken wire and lumber scraps) that are a few feet from the back door (which in turn is a couple of steps from the kitchen). We use a stainless steel food scrap bin in the kitchen and every 2-3 days take it out to the outdoor bin. Do I love taking it out in a snowstorm? No. But it isn‘t really a big deal. And it makes me appreciate having central heat all the more when I come back in!

For those who have outdoor compost bins, what do you do to avoid attracting wildlife to them, especially rodents? In my area I also have to consider bears.

So you only take your kitchen trash out once a week? Get a smaller trash bag and take it out twice a week?? Yes it’s more plastic but you can double down on your habits elsewhere to save on plastic use. 🙂. Composting is a chore, you have to turn it and monitor the temperature and it takes a long time to turn into something useful.

I have a 1 qt plastic container with snap on lid for daily scraps. There are two of us but it gets full every day as we cook from scratch and have a large pot of coffee every day,. I have a 5 gallon bucket with snap on lid from Lowes and the qt gets empited into it daily. The 5 gallons takes varied times to fill depending on time of year and what I am making . When it is full I empty the contents into a large wire circle that I made out of 2" square black coated metal fencing. It's about 4 ft across and 3 feet high and is passive compost. I have leaves and top soil in another large bin with plant clippings and weeds and some grass clippings in it. I cover the leavings from the 5 gal bucket completely with the combo of stuff from the other bin. I do this year round. I have never had anything get in it . We have bears in the area and lots of hedgehogs and skunks etc. Nothing has ever gotten into it. The stuff in the 5 gallon bucket smells so horrible that nothing would dare come near it. I mean really really awful. It's all organic food stuffs that are breaking down. I get the most incredible black soil out of this when I finally dig down and take out from the bottom. All I have to do is uncouple the side where I have the wire crossed back on itself to hold it together No bins to turn never any odor after I cover the newest addition and almost no cost and no critters. It's perfect for us.

@Caroline Donnelly, thank you for the description! Would it be possible to share a photo of your wire circle?

@2rickies sure will post tomorrow. 2 different landscapers have seen it and immediately adopted it for themselves and their interested customers. its just so easy, cheap and resourceful. 🙏

Small animals (squirrels, mostly; possibly raccoons) will eat some of the food scraps from our bin, but we have had no problems. We have had black bears in the yard but they seem to not be interested in the bin, maybe because it is right up against the house.

Lomi doesn't really compost. It dries and grinds scraps and calls it compost. It's kind of a scam if you expect usable compost from it.

I have a tumbler near my kitchen back door. I have a bowl on my counter. It gets dumped every day or three. It doesn't stink or get buggy (but if it did I'd pull out my old lidded compost bucket).

So maybe one could use a drying rack as is used to make dried apples and other tasty treats as a cheaper alternative to the Lomi.

I actually love the ziploc bag in the freezer option. It would allow some accumulation and for one to choose their day or week to make the deposit into the outdoor compost.

Many thanks for the good ideas! I probably have enough alternative ideas now to make an informed decision.....but I'll check in so post as you wish.

@2rickies here are some photos from our windy COLD VA yard !

Front bin has the layers of compost / leaves / dirt . Back bin is from where I scoop to cover the 5 gal. collected scraps.

This is what the fully composted refuse looks like in the back bin under the leaf cover.

I mulch almost all my leaves with my mower except the ones that are in my bulb bed. Those are small and I just rake them over the area and they break down. i had already winterized my mower so these big bins have the last of the whole leaves .

Close up of fencing. wire cutter goes easily and quickly through and i bend the long cut end over the other end and voila a sturdy circle. I can unclasp down low and pull it back and scoop out what i want from the bottom. These are sitting on heavy duty cardboard.

The big bed with mulch has several years of compost then a layer of heavy duty organic weed blocker paper. i buy 100’ rolls x 4 ’ wide. Then mulch. will be covering with purchased local top soil and planting a matrix pollinator bed in May .

https://www.arbico-organics.com/category/weed-barriers

Compost piles can catch on fire under the right conditions.🙂

I use compost cages, kind of like Caroline. I use 2x4" wire fencing for it. Same stuff I've used to make tomato towers and small trellising. 4' metal stakes to hold the fencing in place. I line the cages with cardboard as I fill them. They are 3' tall, and if I bend it into a square, about a 3x3 square- I've left them round too. Cold composting, it can take a while to really fill a cage and it kind of stays full. As they get really full, I've been using them as raised beds. One of the active cages now is being used to sort of fill in a spot on a slope that in a year or two will get filled with some perennials. That one is about 50' or so from the house, and the one I most often dump into right now. But when the weather is really bad and I can't get the door open or walk through the snow, the compost tumbler is used.

I use an old 5 quart insert from a slow cooker for the indoor scrap bucket. It got cracked at some point so it got reused. I also have a 3 gallon bucket that lives out in the enclosed porch. It's more for gardening scraps, I garden year round. But sometimes it gets pressed into service if I'm doing something that creates a lot of scraps.

I don't get troubled by critters too much. I have hunters on the property, and also use the property to advantage to help the hunters.

I do what Jenny says and keep the scraps in the freezer! Once a week I take the freezer bags to municipal compost collection, I don't do it myself :) No potentially smelly buckets in a cabinet or on the countertop.

Caroline's set up is low tec,low cost,low labor and efficient. Taking scarps out twice per week and digging in compost once per year would tax only the most frail individual. No worry with bear in East Texas and it was 11F when i made my daily run today without suffering frost bit. If worms don't soon find it buy a pak from bait shop and toss them in. That only leaves the key element of enjoyment or reward. If one doesn't get some form of satisfaction the effort is doomed.

We keep one or two open plastic containers in the freezer and just drop our compostables in there until we have a chance to take it out back.