< Chicken School - Kids 'n Chicks | Main | Extra fiber for baby >

Compost

Posted at 7:46 AM on March 30, 2008 by Gina Keenan (4 Comments)

What does compost have to do with eating local? Hmmm, maybe the connection is sustainability, or maybe it is that once you have compost, you can put it on your garden, which provides you with that local produce. Regardless, I would like to discuss compost, and get opinions from out there in the cyberworld. I have been very impressed with the collective knowledge of this audience, and to say the least, we need their help on this issue.

Compost is an issue with our family. We generate a lot of compostable material, maybe too much, which is why it is such an issue. We have composted for years, decades, and there have always been issues. I think part of these issues are related to us being lazy composters. We have never been good at adding a lot of "brown" materials, like grass clippings to compost piles on a regularly basis. And we have never watered or regularly turned our compost piles. As a result, we have had unwanted visitors (emotional scarring for me) or stinky compost. Recently, we had fruit fly invasion from our worm bins in the basement that was beyond it. The worm-bins were ousted into the backyard in sub-zero temps. They are likely a mass of frozen worms at this point, which will be sad for the neighborhood kids. Digging for worms was a big activity last summer.

We keep on composting though. Two months ago, my husband (the head composter) stubbled upon a composting machine, called Nature Mill (http://www.naturemill.com/hiw_diagram.html), that composts items in two weeks. Of course we had to get it. It is sold as an under the sink composter. Needless to say, it is in our basement, and will eventually be going to garage. It is definitely not as odorless as is advertised. At times, the basement has an barn-like odor. I don't mind it that much, makes me a little nostalgic. My three-year old daughter holds her nose when going into the basement and says the smell makes her "want to throw-up". Regardless of your opinion on the smell, it is not an odor that belongs in a house. The machine definitely turns the food scraps to compost in a quick fashion, but once again, we seem to produce too many scraps for the machine to handle.

So I was discussing this issue with a co-worker of mine, who flat out told me I was a bit obsessed with compost, and he said they do not have these issues, as they have rabbits (outdoor rabbits). The rabbits eat their food scraps and become the composters. They have screens underneath the rabbit cages which allow the rabbit's urine to go through and catches the manure, which can be put directly on the garden without composting. That really caught my attention. They coincidentally also had some rabbits they would like to give away. We happen to have three kids who have been asking for rabbits (well I guess the one year old isn't specifically asking), and I am guessing the neighborhood kids will enjoy them even more than the worms. Win-win for everyone, right? Well, we'll see....

So the questions I have are, has anyone out there used the rabbit system for composting? If so, is it successful? What pitfalls are there? Does anyone have any other compost advice for us? Also, what I would really love is to have chickens (to help complete the composting cycle and get the bonus of eggs), but alas, our fair city does not allow them. I know Seattle, Portland and even, Madison, WI, allow them. Does anyone have any experience in getting their city to allow chickens? Good experiences or bad? Thanks!

Comments (4)

About 15 years ago, my oldest son was a freshman in high school and active in 4-H and school ag. Texas had passed a "no pass, no play" rule that said... if you didn't have the grades, you couldn't participate in extra curricular activities...including showing your animals at the local county fair. Well, since my son was too lazy to raise his own, his friends that didn't have passing grades had him show their animals. For "payment", he recieved 25 chickens and 3 rabbits. He also showed a pig -- we didn't get the pig. For entertainment, after school, he'd take his school buddies behind the barn and put "Jack Hammer" in with the females....

We proceeded to raise lots of rabbits. Gestation for rabbits is fairly short and if you have a male in the cage or even in the next cage, they procreate alllll the time. The females are fertile all the time it seems. You can severely wear them out if you let them breed too often. My son had no problem, killing and dressing the rabbits. It was good lean white meat and local people would pay him for the dressed rabbits.

THE COMPOST....that was your question... is GREAT. Better than chicken. Chicken litter can be stinky and ammonia ... almost too hot. Rabbit manure, depending on what they eat is awesome and can be used right away. Often I'd find the baby rabbits eating their poop because it wasn't very poopie-- it was more like their feed.

Don't get me wrong, when I had chickens, we would line the boxes and floor of my chicken house with wood shavings. When I cleaned out the house, I'd just shovel it out the back door. Our ground was hard red clay and gravel. After about a year, it became loamy and wonderful. I had friends who would come and clean out the chicken house just to get the good manure. It did need to compost or lay around and cool off. I had no fancy composting appartus, just the ground around the pens.

I don't live inside the city limits, so I don't have to worry about zoning. I lived on 15 acres at that time. I now live on 11 of those original 15 acres. The old farm house along with the barn and hen house (and my chickens) went to the new owners who are now my best friends and neighbors. We built a new house "over the river and through the woods". But now with the encouragement of this Locavore lifestyle, my family is about to start over with a new barn, hen house and rabbits. The thing I miss most is the compost from the animals.

My 15 year old is now 29, married and the father of 4 and lives on our property out of sight, but close. He loves to garden. He plants it, grows it and I pay for it and together he and I can it. We have a cooperative lifestyle that works for us.

As far as composting food scraps, I have a garden cart beside my potting bench which is outside around the corner from my kitchen. I throw the scraps into the cart. They stink, it rains, I forget to take it over to the future garden plot. By the time I or my husband does it, it's rotten, stinky, racoons and possums have had their share and bugs are in it. Isn't that what compost is supposed to do? One of my laid back friends said, "it doesn't matter what or how you do it, eventually it will turn into dirt." So I don't sweat it so much anymore.

Posted by Margaret Flynn | April 2, 2008 1:37 PM

Dear Gina,

I have also had many compost adventures, the maggots were the worst, the mice jumping out of the little holes of the compost tumbler that we tried a few years ago were pretty special...I thnk what worked best for us was trying to cover the pile with leaves or shredded paper (we have one of those paper shredders), grass clippings, dirt...whatever covered the molding food...

I have heard that if you only have a couple of chicks without any roosters they are legally considered pets...

Good Luck, Vera

Posted by vera schabicki | April 2, 2008 5:20 PM

Okay, now that I have stopped laughing... been there, done that. So... (1) Our worms manage outside year 'round, as long as we keep enough stuff in the composter for them to bury themselves. Of course, they subsist largely on coffee grounds - probably got some good metabolism going there. (2) A couple of rabbits are great for turning veggie scraps into quick, excellent fertilizer. Strongly suggest a couple of females, unless you are okay with butchering or have lots of extra land + cage wire. (3) Chickens - some places "grandfather" chicken-keeping, if you can convince the city that you've had them long enough and the neighbors don't complain (e.g., you don't keep a rooster). (4) Read Ruth Stout (aka the naked gardener) for other composting shortcuts.

Posted by Cher | April 2, 2008 6:11 PM

As always, great information, and great stories also! Thanks all, I greatly appreciate it.

Gina

Posted by Gina | April 7, 2008 10:38 PM