Composting – The Beginning

Now that we’ve had our own compost pile, and then curbside compost pickup in Oakland which, surprisingly, Marin does not offer yet (NOTE: this could be a good community/environmental activism project for me…), and then access to my sister’s giant compost heap in Newton, MA, there’s no turning back. It’s kind of on par with how once you’ve had your own washer and dryer, you’re spoiled for life – only this is more important, because we’re talking about the health of the planet, not just how easy it is to wash and dry your dirty clothes.

So our first week in our new home, we were tossing kitchen scraps into the brush along the edge of our yard. But, we generate a pretty hefty scrap load and didn’t want to start attracting “vermin” so we put “Find local composter options” on the Action List and started putting our scraps in the garbage disposal and trash. It was painful, every day, but we were so busy unpacking boxes, setting up our home, and dealing with the million and one logistics of getting settled in a new place. I had hoped to find a program offering subsidized compost bins through the City of San Rafael or Marin Sanitary Service (garbage and recycling service in San Rafael) but couldn’t find any information. (Only just now, as I dug even deeper into the maze of sites for recycling in Marin, did I find out about a program offered via College of Marin. It’s tucked away on page 6 of the Marin County Recycling Guide. I couldn’t actually find details of the program on the College of Marin website, though. NOTE: more reason to take this on as a community/environmental activism project.)

It took several weeks but finally we carved out time on a Saturday afternoon to shop around for a composter. First we checked our local hardware store, Jacksons, preferring, of course, to give our business to a local business. They had a few options – all substantially more than we wanted to spend. (We figured $50 was really more than enough to spend for what would likely be a made-in-china, quite basic plastic bin.) We moved on to Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) which doesn’t carry any composters (and didn’t impress us in general.) At that point I was ready to throw in the towel (this was just part of a typical Saturday marathon of errands) but Jeph dragged me to the big orange chain store and they actually came through for us. We went with a 3x3x3 black plastic box with a lid. The good news: recycled plastic(!); made in Israel (not China!); and $50 (right where our budget topped out.) We were Very Excited.

Jeph built it in the yard, following directions, and ended up with the two side panels on upside down! It came apart pretty quickly, he flipped the side panels over, then hooked in the bottom panel. The lid snapped on and we hauled it into place.

Per Jeph” I know, I know,,, you’re going to ask…why didn’t you build it out of some reclaimed wood, or brick or other scrap material? You guys are crafty/handy and into creative re-use, right? Here’s my answer to that. In the urban neighborhood we live in, this self contained unit is right for the application, and DIY’ing this would have further delayed getting all that organic material where it belongs: in the continual cycle of growth and decomposition – and not stuck in a plastic bag, in a huge pit in the earth. Don’t worry, we’ll be creatively re-using in other household/craft projects.”

Even though we had a compost pile of our own before, it’s been a few years now, and it was just that: a pile. A bin environment is a little different and also it’s just good to research what you’re working on and take an informed approach. Jeph learned that the healthiest ratio for composting is 2 parts brown (twigs, leafs, grass, etc) to 1 part green (food scraps), though it depends on the info source because I read 5:1 or even 8:1, so we’ll shoot for somewhere in the middle, 3:1-ish. Tossing in a little bit of some existing compost, and maybe a few worms (the next phase of this project), keeping it wet (but not too wet), and turning it over regularly, will get the pile humming along, encouraging the healthy microorganisms to flourish and do their job.

Our little yard has a lot of potential and our green thumbs are itching to start raking, pruning, digging, planting, and tending. The rich compound generated by our bin will be put to good use. Composting is an exercise in patience, though. Again, depending on the info source, (and drawing on our own experience and common sense) it will probably take about 3-4 months before our pile is kicking out the good stuff. That gives us plenty of time to keep researching and practicing techniques, clearing and tidying the yard, and envisioning/sourcing plantings!