Composting is so simple, and the internet makes it sound very complex, I was intimated to even start. We began with the compost bucket I posted below. The metal bucket was left behind from the previous owners, and it was too cool to throw away. We started throwing garden waste into it, turning it, letting it break down slowly on its own. The results were quick, and we were sold. We started a larger compost pile behind the shed for grass clippings and bigger garden waste products like sunflower stems. Since we only need one garbage can for a week’s worth of garbage, we used our extra garbage can as third compost area. We have not composted food products, some occasional eggs shells and coffee here and there but nothing more. We now compost all of our own garden waste.

UPDATE: One of the simplest methods of composting is a kitchen system. However simple, my commitment to this is not strong as I am not sold on concept of decomposing organic material in the kitchen. There are excellent products available, but the simpler the better. Recently, I moved our metal kitchen compost bin, which has gone mostly unused for about 4 years, to outside of the back door. This way we can easily add coffee grinds, eggs shells and peels then chose which compost pile to empty the bucket into. We can then rinse the bucket and dump the water on to the compost. Hopefully, keeping this out of the kitchen helps me create a new composting habit. I will provide updates as we try this new system.

Some reads…and not so pretty pics