I have tinkered with composting for the last year, and have been thus far disappointed. I mainly used kitchen waste. The first (winter) attempt was a stinky, slimy, and COLD pile. The second (summer) attempt, using a YIMBY compost bin, attracted so many flies that the maggots did most of the digesting!
This year, I built a U-shaped dirt berm and tried again, using 90% chopped up leaves (“browns”) and 10% kitchen/garden waste (“greens”). I have added enough water to moisten the pile.
5 days after loading up the compost pile and covering it with a plastic tarp, the pile is running at 90 degrees F (33 deg C), even with an outside temperature well below freezing (24 deg F/-4 deg C).
Given the very cold outside temperatures, I believe that the dirt berm is an important recipe for success. The thick tarp provides insulation from the cold and keeps the moisture from evaporating (which is a real problem here in Colorado, where the air is cold and dry). Large-scale composters always emphasize the importance of air circulation. I have not done anything to explictly improve circulation, but I believe that the leaves themselves do permit some airflow. I also turn the pile every few days.
Credit to gaetanproductions and calikim29 for the inspiration. I dream of using the compost to heat greenhouses, like gaetanproductions does, and this experiment appears to prove that it is possible.
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