Urban Composting Update: Dealing with Missouri’s “Third Winter”

jessamynorchard (67)in #homesteading • 6 years ago

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Little did I know, right after this photo was taken, the temperature for my compost began to get very challenging because Missouri’s weather is...unpredictable.

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We have had rain, sleet, and even snow since then. Along with a few 65+ degree F days. Perfect. Lol

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I think that’s one of the first things a person not from the area needs to know. I’ve mentioned it before, but we can literally experience at least 3/4 seasons if not all in one day (like the sunny morning a few years ago that turned to rain, then snow, then tornadoes).

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Anyway, after I made my post basically 3 weeks ago about my 14-day digester made DIY from 5-gallon buckets, and it had a few days to start to get rockin-and-rollin...I was feelin’ the heat of the compost inside the container. Compost was happening.

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Then the damn temperature dropped to nothing and I moved the bucket inside. Then it was decided I didn’t want to keep the compost bucket right by my volatile microgreens, it was decided to move it to the garage...where it was still cold.

I stopped feeling the heat on the outside of the bucket, but continued to aerate the soil every couple of days, increasing the carbon in hopes of fighting mold layers which is always a possibility in any damp/wet compost, but one that I want to try to be avoided.

Thankfully, even though I still feel it is incredibly wasteful, Amazon.com has provided us with great and technically “free” compost carbon in mass quantities via their packing material in a huge box they sent us a few days ago. Looking forward to tearing that up. Look forward to having a nice paper shredder maybe one day so we can increase that efficiency without cost.

I digress. It got cold.

Not much was happening in regard to literal warmth* in the compost in the garage.*

With the blessing of my new indoor microgreen grow house (more on that later), I now have availability to bring the compost back inside (still isn’t stinky), where it’s been for the last 48 hours.

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I did leave it inside after a good aeration for 48 hours (instead of 24 between turns), because I wanted to see if the heat would generate inside the buckets and the soil itself again, and while I could feel that composting was taking place, I know it should not be as cold as it is, so I do want to get the heat up until I can start keeping them outside.

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AKA AFTER THIRD WINTER AND MUD SEASON

You know I’ll keep you posted as soon as I pop into this bad boy this afternoon with photos and compost update. It’s looking good, despite the cold, I have high expectations for tofay’s turn, and am looking forward to sharing it with you.