when is compost finished | Crazy About Compost

First compost of the season!

This bottomless pit of a compost bin ate everything I threw at it for over a year. I decided to give it extra time to sit, and it was worth it- 15 months later and I have some really nice stuff. A cubic yard of compost is a lot to work with- I hope I can use it all quickly so I can get back to using it again. Working with a cubic yard means higher temperatures and higher tolerances- you can get extra lazy with it and still get great results. I'm about to empty a trash can's worth of compost that sat over the winter- I have a feeling it's not going to look nearly as good and I'll end up throwing half of it (the unfinished stuff)…

Collecting Worm Castings…and the Other Stuff, Too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg0h4-vLz0Q Emptying the Worm Inn vermicomposting system is a breeze- check out the gorgeous castings! I don't miss my old worm bin at all. The contaminants are pretty funny, too- a few fruit labels, a shredded envelope window, and some uncrushed eggshells didn't make it. Sifting out the extras is easy when using a basket with 1/4" to 1/2" spacing. Are you getting the results you'd like with your worm bin or outdoor composting system?

Lots and Lots of Worm Poop – Now What?

It's been six months since I've emptied the Worm Inn system- I admit I forgot about the worms for a bit, but now I have a ton of castings. Every time I empty the Worm Inn, I'm always so impressed with the quality of the castings compared to the results from a standard worm bin. When looking at the outlying "contaminants", it's like looking back in time at mistakes that were made- as you can see, I have a few! I'm such a stickler about removing labels from fruit, but I guess I wasn't on a few occasions. Luckily, these are easy to spot. 2. All those plastic shreds were clearly from an envelope that has a plastic window. I like to shred my paper, but I must have shredded…