About six months after moving into my husband’s house, I asked about composting. Neither one of us knew much about it, but it seemed doable—we have a large backyard, he likes to build things.
“Let’s do it,” he agreed.
Fast-forward a couple months, my husband watched a few videos, collected some unwanted supplies from various construction sites (I relished the “green justice” of using trash to make our bins!), and voila, now we have a compost system in the back of our yard.
Now, fast-forward a couple years. I’m talking with my husband one night and bring up our compost piles, probably saying something like “See? We’re already doing it!”
To which, he quickly replied: “Wait—what? We are not composting, and don’t go telling your friends we’re composting. I was happy to build you the bins, but it’s up to you to use it.”
Well . . . hmm.
I had no idea. Literally none. Once he built the compost bins, I guess I thought compost appeared—magically? More likely, I thought he was “taking care of it.” But he made it very clear in this conversation that while he was happy to build something for me, the buck stopped there. If we were going to compost, I was going to have to learn how.
And so, about a month after that conversation, I read my first book about composting: Let It Rot! The Beginner’s Guide to Composting by Stu Campbell.
This is what I need, I thought. An easy, break-things-down introduction to composting.
Well, the promise of “The Beginner’s Guide” fell short for me. I mean, I’m sure the book is easy to understand for most people. But my thumb is so not green that I’m pretty sure plants duck for cover when they see me coming in a home improvement store. That said, I decided just to let go of most of the nitty gritty information about dried blood (yes, that’s a thing!) and nitrogen levels and pH . . . otherwise, I might have succumbed to overwhelm and quit reading.
Instead, I clung to the few things I needed to get me started: you can compost just about anything that is a food item (exceptions are meat and dairy); you should compost in layers; and you can add things like paper and sawdust and ash from a fire. Also, it helps if things are chopped up or broken down.
Okay, I can do this.
I’m happy to report that a year and a half after my husband built our bins, I now have (actually) started our composting journey. Today, I have three different piles working; none of which are creating any compost just yet. But I have my compost bucket under the sink, biodegradable bags to hold food scraps and used coffee filters, and some waterproof Sloggers so I can traipse through the back yard whenever my bucket is full.
Composting has begun. 💛
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