This is compost. Super bio-active, it’s the secret weapon for aspiring organic gardeners — and I certainly am one of those. I’m also a hater of waste, to the point where it can be a problem, so it’s difficult for me to throw out energy-filled food scraps, which abound in a house of picky eaters. Obviously, I needed to learn to compost, but it hasn’t been easy.
In California, we had a compost bin, but we never seemed to really get anywhere with it, no matter how much we threw in. We had a lot more green than brown, and things tended to get moldy and attract flies. At one point, potatoes even grew out of our compost pile. We loved having it, but we never really got any results. In New York, our potential composting opportunities were just physically too far from the kitchen, so into the garbage can those precious scraps went.
One of the promises (and there were SO many!) I made to myself, when moving to this new house was that we would compost. And we have been, thanks to a unique little device that excites both my aspiring green thumb and my inner gadget geek — the NatureMill indoor composter.
We’ve had this little device in our utility room for about a month now, and it is performing as promised. Everything from eggshells, to strawberry tops, to leftover meat and bread goes into the composter, which dutifully digests them and turns out crumbly rich-looking brown gold. You do have to add sawdust or some other “brown” matter, plus baking soda, to balance out the “green.” So far, that hasn’t been a problem, given NatureMill sends some with the unit. Any time things start to look a little damp, I add a few more sawdust pellets. We haven’t had any problems with smell — it’s just a sort of humid rich smell, not anything offensive — and it hasn’t gotten stuck. The only challenge we’ve had so far is that, at times, we have more material than the device can handle. We’re trying to just be patient, and hold onto additional material in the fridge until the current batch is complete.
Before buying the device, I did a lot of online research, reading hundreds and hundreds of reviews. I didn’t want to spend over $300 (we got a refurbished one), only to find it didn’t live up to our expectations. So far, so good. It’s a great solution for impatient or space-challenged gardeners. I can’t believe I’m making compost, and it’s so easy.
Have you been making compost? What works for you?
Note: NatureMill has a program where I, and you, can receive a 15% discount if a few of us buy the composter within 90 days of one another, so drop me a line if you’re planning to buy one and we can all benefit.
P.S. I would have written this post, anyway.
P.P.S. DesignMom posted on composting today, too.
Wow! I’d never heard of this, but I think I want one. So glad you posted about it.
Yeah, I think it would be a good complement to an outdoor composter. Be sure to report how your outdoor one works, as I’m sure we’ll be in the market for one of those before too long!