Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

OT: Does anyone compost at home?

Chubbs
Chubbs Posts: 6,929
I recently purchased a compost tumbler as part of our premeditated efforts to go green as much as possible. The reality is, my wife is a foody, and I have an Eggin problem. With the amount of cooking we do and the amount of different foods we try to make, we constantly find ourselves with spoiled foods. So, the composting is our effort to use those scraps along with our yard waste to incorporate compost into an herb garden we want to build. Thought I would check with my fellow eggers before I spent time surfing the Internet- I can kill to birds with one stone here! Thoughts, pics, comments welcome. Thanks.
Columbia, SC --- LBGE 2011 -- MINI BGE 2013

Comments

  • Mighty_Quinn
    Mighty_Quinn Posts: 1,878
    I do...all compostable kitchen scraps and yard waste...use it all in my garden.
    Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos
  • We have a worm composter in the garage and a tumbler I the yard, the worm take care of some paper with the food scraps, produce about a tray a month of dirt, all of it goes in the garden
    Barbecue may not be what brings world peace, but it has to be a good place to start -Anthony Bourdain 
  • Doc_Eggerton
    Doc_Eggerton Posts: 5,321
    edited January 2013
    I have an 8 x 8 x 4 compost bin.  Works best if I stir it to reintroduce O2, but works pretty well if you just let it lay.  It needs to get moisture from time to time (my sprinklers hit mine).

    We calculated yard clippings one year, and it went something like a reduction of 800 cubic yards down to about 8 cubic yards.

    In the past I have composted everything, meat and oils included, even though that is against the common wisdom.  Seemed to work fine, and we had a great crop of the biggest maggots you've ever seen (which helped the breakdown).  In this house we're sticking to no meat products.

    If you can get some bedding with horse urine in it, to toss in the bin it really cranks the decomposition up.

    In my experience a tumbler is uselessly small, unless you are just composting for the window boxes.

    XXL #82 out of the first 100, XLGE X 2, LBGE (gave this one to daughter 1.0) , MBGE (now in the hands of iloveagoodyoke daughter 2.0) and lots of toys

  • SmokinDAWG82
    SmokinDAWG82 Posts: 1,705
    I compost, I have a 4 by 4 bin made from 4 old pallets, compost all our yard waste and foods, no meat, no dairy
    LBGE
    Go Dawgs! - Marietta, GA
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    Over the past year, we have curb side pick-up of "green cans" on weekly basis. Branches, grass, leaves and all kitchen scraps are OK. Every year each resident can fill a pick up of composted material for gardens and flower beds. 
    We still have a closed 1 yard plastic "composter", but it doesn't get fed as much as it used to. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • Chubbs
    Chubbs Posts: 6,929
    I have an 8 x 8 x 4 compost bin.  Works best if I stir it to reintroduce O2, but works pretty well if you just let it lay.  It needs to get moisture from time to time (my sprinklers hit mine).

    We calculated yard clippings one year, and it went something like a reduction of 800 cubic yards down to about 8 cubic yards.

    In the past I have composted everything, meat and oils included, even though that is against the common wisdom.  Seemed to work fine, and we had a great crop of the biggest maggots you've ever seen (which helped the breakdown).  In this house we're sticking to no meat products.

    If you can get some bedding with horse urine in it, to toss in the bin it really cranks the decomposition up.

    In my experience a tumbler is uselessly small, unless you are just composting for the window boxes.

    Yeah, Doc, the idea for us was start small. I got a 75 gallon tumbler, and our herb garden will be fairly small. If we see good results we will probably build something larger down the road. Any other ideas to boost decomposition? I read dog food can heat up the pile to speed up the process. Anyone have any thoughts?
    Columbia, SC --- LBGE 2011 -- MINI BGE 2013
  • Doc_Eggerton
    Doc_Eggerton Posts: 5,321
    In my experience mixing to introduce O2 and getting water to it are the most important.  Should not be a problem with a tumbler.

    Despite what I said, oils, fats and meats are supposed to retard decomposition.

    Horse urine cranks it up.

    XXL #82 out of the first 100, XLGE X 2, LBGE (gave this one to daughter 1.0) , MBGE (now in the hands of iloveagoodyoke daughter 2.0) and lots of toys

  • bboulier
    bboulier Posts: 558
    Helps to have 2 boxes, as in Mighty Quinn's picture.  The material composts much faster if you can turn the pile from time to time.  We compost yard waste and kitchen scraps (e.g., carrot and potato peelings).  Don't compost any meat or dairy. Also, I don't compost any of my vegetable garden waste  Too easy to spread disease that way.  Good composting should kill pests and disease, but I'd rather not risk it.
    Weber Kettle, Weber Genesis Silver B, Medium Egg, KJ Classic (Black)
  • Solson005
    Solson005 Posts: 1,911
    Here is our compost setup that we have used for years, I highly recommend having access to the bottom of the pile for rotating or grabbing a small amount for you garden. We mainly just use lawn clippings and kitchen scraps. 

    image
    Large & Small BGE, CGW Two-Tier Swing Rack for BOTH EGGS, Spider for the Wok, eggCARTen & and Cedar Pergola my Eggs call home in Edmond, OK. 
  • I have an 8 x 8 x 4 compost bin.  Works best if I stir it to reintroduce O2, but works pretty well if you just let it lay.  It needs to get moisture from time to time (my sprinklers hit mine).

    We calculated yard clippings one year, and it went something like a reduction of 800 cubic yards down to about 8 cubic yards.
     
    if you use a mulching blade and let the grass clippings fall you can reduce you Nitrogen need by 10-15% in your yard.
     
    also with a compost pile if you add some nitrogen fertilzer it will compost quicker because it feeds the microbes.  I always save 2 handfuls of fertilzer to throw in with each application.

    In the past I have composted everything, meat and oils included, even though that is against the common wisdom.  Seemed to work fine, and we had a great crop of the biggest maggots you've ever seen (which helped the breakdown).  In this house we're sticking to no meat products.

    If you can get some bedding with horse urine in it, to toss in the bin it really cranks the decomposition up.

    In my experience a tumbler is uselessly small, unless you are just composting for the window boxes.