Okay, my experiment with the “compost pit” was a failure. Not happy.
Here’s what happened. Basically, the rains came this winter and filled up the pit until I had a soup of rotten food and water that lasted for a number of days after the rains stopped and the water finally seeped out again. This soup stank something awful, as all the aerobic bacteria were killed off and anaerobic digestion began in earnest. I thought the water would just seep into the ground during a rain rather than collecting in the pit. I found out that the ground upon which our house is built has a very high water table since we are close to sea level (~3 or 4 feet ASL), so the water from rain doesn’t have anywhere to go. It just sits there.
So, after having had enough with the olfactory complaints from the wife and indeed from my own nose, I covered over the pit with a number of bags of top soil. This settled, and I added more bags. After a while, this will just be a regular part of the lawn.
The new composting sitting in our side yard.
But what to do with all the food wastes now?
Well, as luck would have it, Costco was selling a 74 gallon tumbling composter for only $99 as a spring special. This is an unbeatable price, as most of the tumbling or spinning composters of that size that I have seen are in the $250 range. This one is even made from recycled plastics and materials and comes in a box made of recycled materials and no glue. And even better, the family CFO (ie. my wife) approved the purchase, so I got one!
Assembly was pretty easy except for the part where you hang the tumbler from the frame, which was awkward and required 2 people. It took about 45 minutes or so.
I have been putting food wastes in there for about 6 weeks now, and already a lot of it is turning brown. There is no significant smell when the thing is closed, though when open it does smell of good food gone bad. The pile feels nice and warm when you open it up and put your hand near it, so the bacteria and such are doing their jobs.
At some point, I will have to stop adding new food, and let this stuff finish composting. The plan is to temporarily store new waste in a garbage bin, and let the current batch finish without any new additions for a while. Then, put the mostly composted stuff in another garbage bin and let it sit and “finish off” before use in the garden. Then, transfer the new waste to the tumbler and start afresh. Ideally, I should have bought 2 tumblers. Maybe the CFO will let me do that next year if I am good and remember mother’s day.
Close up of the compost so far. Note all the 6 week old brown stuff. Hopefully, all the large pieces will break down into smaller pieces after the compost is done...
As a side note, I must say that I am very impressed with the little changes that Costco is making towards being green. They are now selling organic cotton clothes, organic foods, and puting solar panels on the rooves, and now … composters? Slowly, they are getting there!
