Finally Composting

I started composting today.

I've been meaning to forever. My biggest problem was that I had no idea how to get started. If you look it up on the internet you get links to composters you can buy or build, and different methods involving bags or bins or worms.

I wanted something simple.

So I went to Home Depot. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I wasn't sure what to do, and I figured someone there could help me.

There were two kinds there. One had a crank. But I didn't like the idea of turning a crank as though I were starting an antique car. The other kind was basically a big, black box. Made of recycled materials. You put stuff in the top. The actual compost comes out the bottom. Cool.

The trouble is, when I put it in my cart, the sales guy said "Don't forget the starter." And he handed me a bag. Of compost starter. Which I had no clue what to do with.

See, composting should be easy. It SHOULD be just putting the stuff in the top and having the other stuff come out the bottom. But it isn't. There's balance of "browns" and "greens" and little organisms I can't see. While some people insist you have starter, others swear it's a waste of money. And the truth is, I really have no clue.

But I put together my compost bin. It started out simply enough. But these things always have their hard parts. For instance, the instructions did not use words, but drawings, which inevitably did not really correspond to the actual structure I was working with. Apparently in an effort to be more inclusive, today's manufacturers choose to use drawings and make us ALL look like morons. Particularly when you look at part F being inserted into part G with the word "click" written next to it, only when you try to insert part F into part G, it won't go in. There is no click, and instead you end up banging on it with a rock and then twisting it around in an effort to just jam it in there. Click sounds easy. It is a lie.

Anyway, I did manage to assemble the darn thing - a big, black box. And I even put in some started and some leaves, some dry grass, and some dirt. And then I topped it off with a few melon rinds and coffee grounds. And we'll have to see what happens. I'm giving it a week.