Composting 2.0

I jokingly tell people that I learn everything the hard way, truth be told…. I’m not joking! I seriously learn everything the hard way, including how to properly create compost! Andy and I had the opportunity to tour a fellow farmer’s Market Garden this past weekend. This delightful and industrious small farm is called Green Junction. They have been farming for ten years here in the Grand Valley. They don’t own their land but what I’ve learned is with farming you don’t always have too! As with everything and everyone we encounter here in Palisade we learned a lot during our visit. The last point on our stop was their compost area. Notice I didn’t say bin? The first thing I realized is the bins are for the composting material, the compost itself is a large pile centrally located so that you can easily turn it, there is ventilation and access to water. 

So those three lovely bins I made this past fall, one of which I thought I was creating compost in, I’m not using them the correct way. Brain Adams (the farmer not the 1980’s singer) explained it brilliantly. I’m paraphrasing it but the gist of it goes like this…think of composting like making a cake, you first gather all your ingredients and then you mix them together,.” You don’t mix in a little and add more and repeat which is what I’ve been doing, that is not how you’d make a cake nor is it how you make compost. 

This explains why my composting endeavors have not worked in the past! My way doesn’t generate the heat that is needed to turn the ingredients into compost, whereas if you gather all the components first (your brown material like leaves, twigs, wood chips etc…, your green material such as kitchen scraps and garden cuttings, and your manure), then you mix it all together in a large open pile, and insert a thermometer to monitor the temperature. You want your compost heap to be sitting at 130 – 140 degrees. If it is too high or too cool turn it and add water. If the temperature is at either end of the extremes, it kills all the goodness that you are baking inside.

After 21 days at the very earliest, several months up to a year your compost will be complete and ready to use. Heat is one way to tell if it is ready, if it is not too warm, also if it is a rich brown color and if it has an earthy smell to it and crumbles to the touch, those are your key indicators.

So there you have it, the proper way to make compost and a rough idea when it is finished ‘cooking’ and ready for use in your garden.