kitchen compost dish

[habitat-gardener]

According to the US EPA:
"One-third of all food in the United States goes uneaten. EPA estimates that in 2019, about 96 percent of households' wasted food ended up in landfills, combustion facilities, or down the drain to the sewer system. The remainder was composted."
Here's the report those numbers are based on:
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/docume ... opt_ec.pdf

[Mark_Thompson]

@JRinPA Waisted. Love that

[JRinPA]

My big thing is lack of counter space. I'd like to get something on the floor, that the dogs can't raid, won't stink, and doesn't need a bag. May be as simple as two buckets.

[JRinPA]

I am now using a Revere ware copper bottomed spaghetti pot. This was our spaghetti pot for years, with a coil range, but the bottom is maybe a little warped and doesn't work well on the glass top. It is a good size for compost, stainless inside, has a lid that can be used as the mobile scrap catcher and then upturned to flip into the pot easily.

Well we'll see if I burn for this...

[ddsack]

I tend to only use a compost bucket in the summer when I have more fresh garden bits left over from processing various veggies. I use a tall yellow plastic empty cat litter bucket with the lid pried off and re-attached so that you can shake the contents out easier. I don't try to compost in it, just accumulate enough to carry out to the woods where the deer eat any old rotten thing that I try to compost. To avoid any stink or fruit flies, I leave the bucket on my outside back steps, dumping into it a from a plate or colander.

[Julianna]

I like reading the replies as i have been thinking about how I want to do this in Jordan. Bugs are a big concern and water... A pile would stagnate and dry out unless watered, I think, and I think I would need to collect scraps and dump daily at minimumin from a sealed container. I have been thinking about building the 3 pile system.

[JRinPA]

Jordan as in the Middle East?

[Julianna]

Jordan as in the Middle East?

Yes.

[Amateurinawe]

I think getting rid of the waste as quickly as possible is sensible in that heat.

It's part of the reason I use half submerged buckets in each of the raised beds, keeps the worms protected from extremes of heat, can dump stuff in them as required and all nutrients find their way into the soil.

[bower]

Here I'm used to having a huge abundance of plant material to dress the compost pile. Nothing gets smelly when you have armloads of oregano and tansy to cover it. And the amount of straw ensures it's well aerated, although not getting watered except by rain whenever we get that. Doesn't matter because it'll get left for a year.
Very interested to hear what ends up working for you @Julianna .

[Labradors]

I have this under-counter waste bin which we LOVE. The lid automatically covers it when we close the door, and it's so easy just to open the door when peeling something. I line it with newspaper, but it needs a good hose-out in the summer and a scrub in the winter time. I think we bought it from Bed Bath and Beyond, but they are closing here now.

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/richel ... lsrc=aw.ds

[Julianna]

Here I'm used to having a huge abundance of plant material to dress the compost pile. Nothing gets smelly when you have armloads of oregano and tansy to cover it. And the amount of straw ensures it's well aerated, although not getting watered except by rain whenever we get that. Doesn't matter because it'll get left for a year.
Very interested to hear what ends up working for you @Julianna .

I think it would be the same as regular desert composting. But once we start, I update!

[JRinPA]

I have this under-counter waste bin which we LOVE. The lid automatically covers it when we close the door, and it's so easy just to open the door when peeling something. I line it with newspaper, but it needs a good hose-out in the summer and a scrub in the winter time. I think we bought it from Bed Bath and Beyond, but they are closing here now.

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/richel ... lsrc=aw.ds

Hopefully the one in Amman will still be in business.


I forget about the buried bucket with holes idea. Seems like my raised box beds are too hot for worms though. The peppers love that summer heat. I guess I have plenty of compost pile and just don't need it. I do have a buried worm bin, buried a few inches into the dirt, no holes, and that does indeed regulate the heat well. The cold too, it doesn't freeze solid, most years. I fill that with more or less finished compost and let the worms turn it to dense vermicompost.

[Ken4230]

By the way, I've been composting for more than a couple decades and fondly remember the Soil, Compost, and Mulch forum on GardenWeb with its occasional Garden Haiku and "what did you compost today?" (the weirder the better) threads.

I thought everyone had forgotten all that weird stuff. You are right about things being super weird. The poor fellow who attempted to compost his pet, a cat I think, so that the little darling would always be near his master. Something about being able to feel him when he was digging in the dirt. Needless to say, what you would expect to happen did. That poor cat? was dug up and scattered all over the yard. Parts of that partially decomposed animal was everywhere, if I remember right, he found the head in a flower bed. The guy was a basket case.

GardenWeb had a big bunch of weird inexperienced people but they also had some very smart people who were knowledgeable about gardening and many other subjects. I was recovering from a serious motorcycle wreck so I stayed on the site a lot.

I do remember one guy's pet goldfish died and while he was trying to find a casket for the fish he stuck the fish in the compost pile. When he went back to get the fish, it was gone. I think he either offered a reward in the neighborhood for information or was thinking about doing so.