Winterizing Compost

 Happy (almost) winter everyone! We have snow on the ground, it's 16°F, and my Kale is finally looking sad. It's days like this that I regret putting my compost pile all the way in the corner of my back yard. It makes it difficult to find the ambition to take my table scraps out, but as Bandit Heeler, greatest of all fathers says, "It's gotta be done!"

"I'm not taking advice from a cartoon dog!"

So here we go, standard procedure, right? Take out your green scraps, add in the appropriate ratio of brown, and water it sufficiently. But wait, it's fridgid outside, and everything is covered in snow, where am I getting water and brown compost from? Do I just keep adding green and hope it works? Do I toss my scraps in the trash until spring? Do I bag it all up and toss it in the freezer? (I may have done this one year...) No, no, no. You don't have to do all that! Here are some options for you.

First, collect all the brown waste in your house. Did you know animal fur and dryer lint is considered brown waste‽ In my case, I have plenty of both in my lint trap as my dog seems to shed 4lbs of fur a week. I collect is all a bin next to my dryer all year just for this. I used to collect it to make fire starters, but all the dog hair makes for one smelly candle. All you have to do is toss this into your pile with the green scraps. No prep needed. Be advised though, dryer sheets, which sometimes end up with the lint, is not compostable (yet!) and should be tossed in the trash.

Beautiful, isn't it?

What other brown waste do you have? How about all those carboard boxes and paper mailers coming from the megacorp that is supplying everyone's Christmas via mail each year? Amazon is making strides to supply more recyclable paper in their shipping materials. The cushioned envelopes used to be filled with polystyrene but is now made up of the biodegradable adhesive used in cardboard which when heated, puffs up like popcorn. What about all that junk mail? All of this is great to use in your compost. I make a day of shredding all the paper products I've collected for the year and mix them all into a big plastic tote. I'll even mix the lint in with this. It looks like confetti!
One note about using junk mail, the clear plastic windows in some envelopes need to be removed before shredding as this plastic won't break down. I find it too much of a hassle and just recycle all of these with my coated and dyed cardboard.

This resembles my garage any given day...

My other method takes some planning. You can insulate your compost with soil. In the spring, I dig a hole in a particular spot in my yard. All the leaves that I clean up in the spring go into it, all the hardwood sawdust from my shop goes into it, and even shredded paper. Nothing but brown waste. I then mix the dirt back in and cover it. I let this sit all season, and then in the fall I remove all this and pile it up next to my compost pile. The worms will have broken down most of the material and will look like good soil, which it is, but there isn't much nutrition in it. Think fill dirt, or top soil. It needs to be amended. This amendment happens throughout the winter as I scoop some on top of my compost every few weeks to ensure I'm compensating for all the greens going in.  In the fall, when you empty your "Dirt hole," fill it back in with leaves you are currently cleaning up and you'll have another batch of un-amended soil for the spring. Mix in some coir, worm castings, and compost and you have a fresh pile of potting soil!

Ok, I know what you're saying, "I didn't prepare! I don't have much of any of this." Yes, I told you pretty late, but here's two points that you should know. 1. You can start prepping now for next year, or even later this winter season. It is amazing how much paper you can end up with in a short time if you start saving it. 2. You have a lot less green waste entering the pile this season. Yes you still have kitchen scraps, but there is no yard waste entering the system right now which will be the bulk of your greens most of the year. Do what you can, and if you can't, you always have the bags of green scraps in the freezer as an option (shudder...)