A Poor Mom's Guide to Cheap Composting, Part 2: You've got a bin, now what the hell do you put in it?

Hopefully by now you've got your bin built and are ready to start adding things to it.  And that's where composting gets really fun, figuring out what can and cannot go in to the bin, and in what ratios you need to add everything.

In case you're wondering what you can put into your nifty compost bin, this is a good starter list.  This is by no means exhaustive, and I will update you all as I find new things to add.  To make it easier to break down, you'll want to shred or cut whatever you're composting into small pieces, especially fibrous items like banana peels.  Even after just one day of this, I would recommend having a scissors or kitchen shears set aside especially for your composting needs.  I cut up 2 banana peels today and the gummy, sticky residue left behind on my kitchen shears is going to be a bitch to get off.

What you can add:

• Coffee grounds and filters
• Fruits and vegetables
• Egg shells
• Grass clippings
• Leaves
• Nut shells (except for Black Walnut shells)
• Shredded newspapers *
• Fireplace ashes
• Tea leaves and tea bags
• Old herbs
• Animal and human hair
• Fingernail/toenail clippings
• Brown cardboard/paperboard (think of all the toilet paper/paper towel tubes you can compost!) *
• Manure:  Chicken, rabbit or horse.  Avoid dog, cat, pig, or human (Eww!).

*  Try to avoid glossy printed items and colored inks.

What you should NOT add:

• Meat or fish bones
• Meat
• Yard trimmings that have been treated with chemicals
• Pet waste, used cat litter, etc.
• Plants that are diseased
• Dairy products

Now, in order to successfully compost, you're striving for a balance of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon.  The oxygen you took care of by drilling holes in your bin, so that's good.  Now you just need to figure out the carbon:nitrogen ratio.  Everything I've read points to a C:N of 25 or 30:1; in other words, 25 or 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen.  Too much carbon and your compost won't break down.  Too much nitrogen and you'll just end up with a can of stinky goo.  Generally speaking, "green" (or wet) materials provide the nitrogen and "brown" (or dry) materials provide the carbon.

This part is important, so pay attention!  This does NOT mean that you have to use 30 times the AMOUNT of brown components as you do the green.  That would just be plain silly.  And impractical.  So, don't freak out on me about that part.

If you want to really get into the science and math of it all, you can find an excellent article here: http://www.homecompostingmadeeasy.com/carbonnitrogenratio.html.  There's even a nifty chart showing the C:N ratios of different composting materials.  Really cool shit (pun intended).  However, if the idea of this kind of math just for the purposes of making compost hurts your brain a bit (and today it's hurting mine, so don't feel bad), you can usually just strive for 4 parts brown material to 1 part green.  Or somewhere around there.  You'll have to monitor your compost closely and correct any imbalances that you see (too dry or too wet).

My bin has bin up and operational for 4 days now.  I've got another bowl of stuff to take out to it this afternoon and will give the bin a quick roll around the yard to mix everything up.  I'm very excited to see what happens over the next few weeks.  I'll keep you all (com)posted!  See what I did there?

Wherever you are in your day, I hope it's a good one!