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composting

What to do with daily kitchen waste?

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posted 9 years ago

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Yes, there is composting...but composting takes time. And you can not put kitchen waste into compost every day.

So: what to do with the daily kitchen scraps?

We don't have chicken (yet) or pigs to feed the kitchen leftover to. We have a small land (in tropical/subtropical climate) and so far I just dig it somewhere in the soil. But I am running out of places to dig holes

Any ideas?

Marco Banks

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posted 9 years ago

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Yes, 21 day hot composting takes time. But just piling it up in a big pile and letting it slow rot is almost completely without effort. When you say "kitchen scraps", I assume you don't mean meat or other scraps that may draw rats. Anything else -- veggie scraps, grains, breads, etc., are easy enough to deal with.

I've got a 5' x 5' cage made of fence panels that I found at Lowes. I can pile stuff in that all summer long and never have to turn it once. When we get to fall clean-up, I'll pull that square cage up, move it over a few feet, and pile all the tired tomato vines and everything else, and then I'll turn the old pile over on top of it.

One turn in the fall, and then one more in the spring. Easy peasy. It takes about 12 months to break down.

OR -- even easier -- don't turn it at all. Locate your compost pile at the drip line of a tree you want to give a boost to. If the tree is on a hillside, build the pile on the down-hill side. Just pile up the organic matter and let it rot in the years to come. I do this with all sorts of bio-mass: tree branches, spent vines from cantaloup, watermelon, squash, and tomatoes, and any other plant matter I find. Chop, drop, pile it up and walk away.

"The rule of no realm is mine. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, these are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail in my task if anything that passes through this night can still grow fairer or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I too am a steward. Did you not know?" Gandolf

Joseph Lofthouse

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posted 9 years ago

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Open the kitchen door. Fling the peelings/etc roughly in the direction of the kitchen garden. If they fall short, and land on the lawn, no big deal, they'll get chopped up the next time the lawn is mowed. If they land in the garden, they'll get incorporated into the soil.

If the kitchen waste contains live propagules that could turn weedy, then whine, and walk the few extra steps necessary to toss them into the hedge.

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Tyler Ludens

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posted 9 years ago

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What about a worm bin? I have both a worm bin and a Black Soldier Fly bin, but I don't think a BSF bin is the greatest idea unless you have something to feed the maggots to. The worm bin is better if you don't have poultry or fish, because you can use the worm castings as fertilizer. My family produces very little kitchen scraps, so these bins are more than sufficient for us.

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Rebecca Norman

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posted 9 years ago

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Frank Happyman wrote:And you can not put kitchen waste into compost every day.

Umm... Yes, of course you can! I've never heard this idea, and I always put kitchen scraps into the compost every day.

Many people prefer to have a worm bin instead and it sounds like that might suit you. But I've always had no trouble just doing regular old low-tech composting, and adding kitchen scraps every day has always been fine for me.

Works at a residential alternative high school in the Himalayas SECMOL.org . "Back home" is Cape Cod, E Coast USA.

Judith Browning

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posted 9 years ago

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Rebecca Norman wrote:

Frank Happyman wrote:And you can not put kitchen waste into compost every day.

Umm... Yes, of course you can! I've never heard this idea, and I always put kitchen scraps into the compost every day.

me too! I use a ring of hogwire to keep in place and cover each deposit with some leaves, weeds or straw. Eventually, we remove the ring and let it finish (mostly) decomposing and plant a tree there. We don't turn or move the compost from that spot, we just start a new ring of compost where we want the next fruit tree.

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Sunshine Thiry

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Location: Michigan

posted 9 years ago

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Recently I was reading a book on homesteading and permaculture and the author referenced green solar compost digester cones. I looked them up and found several websites offering them. Here's a picture of what they look like:

Apparently what you do is dig a hole about 18 inches down and bury the basket part in the ground and backfill around it. The top pops open and you insert your daily kitchen scraps in there and they fall down below ground into the basket part, where they are digested rapidly. From what I have read, you can use any kind of kitchen scraps, including vegetable peels, fruit pits, meat scraps, and dairy. The digestion is supposed to be so rapid that you don't need to empty it except maybe once a year. I have ordered one and intend to put it in my huckleberry bed, which is near the front of the house, so it is easy to bring out whatever kitchen scraps I don't intend to feed to the chickens every day.

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. (James 5:7)

Anne Miller

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posted 9 years ago

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I use the Joseph Lofthouse's type of composting. I have been doing this for three years and never find any of it. I don't do this with oil or meat scraps. I figure that the deer, rabbits or anything else that walks buy will get to have a treat. If not then it will decompose and go back to the soil.

We don't have leftovers as we eat that for lunch. Bones and meat scraps are made into bone broth and then the clean bones are frozen until we get rid of the trash.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Su Ba

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posted 9 years ago

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Before I got into creating a homestead farm, I simply dug a hole somewhere in the garden and buried the kitchen garbage. Nowadays most goes to feed the chickens and pig, with the remainder going into the compost box. Zero waste!

It's never too late to start! I retired to homestead on the slopes of Mauna Loa, an active volcano. I relate snippets of my endeavor on my blog : www.kaufarmer.blogspot.com

Frank T. Liu

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Wow, so many answers and ideas: Thank you guys!!!

I live in Taiwan, climate is mostly above 25+ Celsius/ 77+ Fahrenheit. Humidity mostly 80+%. Everything starts to mold immediatly and everthing that is not covered with a thick layer of soil will be found by insects, roaches and mice. I didn't cover the kitchen scrap thick enough and we had some roaches. After a while mice took over and the roaches disappeared. And now I almost stepped into a snake...therefor the mice start to climb the banana trees and live there. It's a nice eco system here. I think we will try some worm composting and sooner or later have chicken...
Thank you all for your input...
Regards
Frank

Anne Miller

steward

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posted 9 years ago

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My kitchen only generates two kinds of trash: vegetable/fruit scrapes and meat scrapes. You might have a third category that is plate scraping and leftovers. The third category would need to be buried unless it can be changed into another category like re-purposing into other meals, like stew or chili. With the first two categories, you could make bone broth. And you might even be able to use the leftovers too. That way, you are not only getting rid of your scraps but also turning it into nutritious food.

https://permies.com/t/6068/cooking/kitchen/ruminant-bone-broth-amazing-food

https://permies.com/t/9614/cooking/kitchen/homemade-broth-health-food" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> https://permies.com/t/9614/cooking/kitchen/homemade-broth-health-food

https://permies.com/t/1675/cooking/kitchen/composting-veggie-broth

http://wellnessmama.com/5888/how-to-make-bone-broth/

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

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