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Since growing food is a community value, we take composting seriously. Kitchen scraps from individual units and also from the farmhouse kitchen are composted in worm bins. We also regularly build aerobic, high temperature compost piles because they kill most weed seeds, introduce microbes, produce humus and recycle organic matter on site. By making our own compost we reduce our dependence on off-farm nutrient inputs.

We maintain compost bins made from recycled pallets. They are sited in the middle of the courtyard so that villages can deliver their kitchen scraps easily.

In order to keep our compost project functioning well, we limit grains or pasta, bread. We do not use meat, fish, milk products, large pits, animal waste or anything oily. All that goes into the dumpster. Because of both our recycling and composting, the trash company has downsized us to the smallest possible dumpster, which is rarely full each week.

Recipe for Hot Compost

Gather a truckful of manure. We are lucky to have some friends who keep horses and are happy to give it to use to reduce their waste stream. Although a pile can successfully compost without the use of manure, in general, manures are an excellent ingredient.

Locate the pile in proximity to the raw materials as well as to the land where the finished compost will be applied. Leave enough area around the pile for ease of construction and access. In summer, the pile needs to be near a water source and ideally in a shaded area to reduce it from drying out.

Mark an area 5’ x 5’ to 6’ x 6’ for the base of the pile. At this volume the pile is self-insulating and will reach the optimal temperature range of 131-145 degrees in ten days to three weeks. The maximum height and width is six feet so as not to limit aeration or increase compaction.

Gather wheelbarrows, manure forks, spades and in the summer a hose with sprayer and compost materials: greens such as cover crops, fresh crop residues, non-pernicious weeds, fresh or aged horse or cow manure, food scraps, chicken manure, straw used as chicken bedding, brown leaves, older dried crop residues. Do not include the manure of carnivores, pernicious weeds such as morning glory or crab grass, meat and dairy which might attract pests and walnut leaves which inhibit growth.

Loosen the soil at the compost site to enhance aeration and migration of organisms and start to layer. Alternate each nitrogenous layer with a carbonaceous layer. Make thin layers of two to three inches high for materials that are either high in carbon such as straw or materials that are high in nitrogen such as fresh horse manure. Make thicker layers of four to six inches for those materials that are mid range on the C:N scale such as a mix of fresh and older weeds or crop residues.

Keep the pile square by pulling and adding material to the corners and edges and tamping walls with fork. We aim for vertical sides to maximize the volume of the pile.

Use the hose sprayer to add water to layers that need it, paying attention to the corners and edges. We aim for a pile as moist as a wrung-out sponge. Add more water to the top half of pile, as the water will migrate down to lower layers.

At five feet high, we finish with a carbon layer and then a cap of straw or pine branches or a breathable compost cloth to protect the pile from drying and help retain heat. In the rainy season only, we finish with a tarp. Piles that sit through summer can have a flattop but piles built in the winter should have a more rounded top to shed rain.

Label the pile with the date and materials used. Monitor the temperature by inserting a compost thermometer 18 inches into the pile in several different points in the pile then averaging it. Record the temperature daily for the first three weeks then weekly after that. It should be from 131-145 degrees. Temperatures above 150 degrees can kill microbes so if this happens we turn the pile immediately.

Turn the pile once at three weeks and again at six weeks. After three weeks, the temperature is down to 100-120 degrees. Turning the pile reintroduces oxygen and raises the temperature back to 131-145 degrees.

When turning the pile place the dryer and less decomposed materials that had been in the outside of the pile in the inside and those that had been in the inside, on the outside. Do not worry about keeping the layers intact at this point. Add water as necessary and break up dry or anaerobic pockets or compacted clumps. If the pile is too wet, add new carbon materials. Add nitrogenous materials if the pile has not heated up and moisture is fine.

At around ten or twelve weeks, we have mature, stable and ready to use compost. We know it is ready to use as it is dark-brown, has a sweet earthy smell, a crumbly texture, a greasy feel, and is at ambient temperature. The parent material is largely unrecognizable and there are signs of macro-organisms such as earthworms. It is the very best food for our garden’s soil.