The Composting Revolution

You can contribute to the 'composting revolution' by recycling your own yard and kitchen wastes at home.  We use a handy kitchen composter that I purchased at TJMaxx for about $14.00.  It is stainless steel, easy to clean and has a filter to prevent odors.  We place all of our household compostable waste in this bucket including vegetable and fruit, coffee grounds and filter, and eggshells. 

Outside, we have a much larger composter which we made from a large, clean plastic garbage can.  We drilled holes in the side using a large drill bit and here we deposit our yard waste (brown) and empty our kitchen composter (green).  We turn the contents over once a week and add a little water if it looks too dry.

Brown materials include:
*dry yellow or brown leaves and grass
*the woody stalks of plants such as sunflowers and corn
*paper and wood products, such as sawdust, chopped up twigs and shredded newspaper and junk mail
*dryer lint
*straw
*wood ash (not too much)

Green materials include:
*Kitchen scraps, such as vegetables, fruit and eggshells 
*coffee grinds with the filter and tea bags
*fresh green leaves and grass clippings
*fresh weeds that haven’t seeded
*composted manure – cow, sheep, chicken, rabbit

Add a little more brown than green to your composter to get the right balance of nitrogen vs. carbon and after a few weeks or months you will have a great source of soil conditioner and organic fertilizer for your garden and vegetable plants! Now that's being A Crafty Recycler!!