Winter Composting Extravaganza
Well I’ve finally worked out my digital camera issues (needed to order a new battery charger) and it’s officially time for my long-overdue composter update! If you are just tuning in for the first time, you may want to check out these related composting posts:
My New Compost Bin
Composter Update
Composting Grass and Leaves
As I mentioned in a couple posts, I’ve decided brave the snow and cold this winter in an effort to keep my composter active and my worms alive. It’s not going to be an easy task, with air temperatures often dipping well below 0 Celsius (32 F) during our cold winter months up here in the ‘Great White North’, eh!
All joking aside, here in Southern Ontario our winters are actually quite reasonable in comparison to Canada’s more northerly regions - more moderate in fact that many of the northern US states! Nevertheless, without adequate microbial activity and bin insulation the contents of my bin will surely freeze solid. Been there, done that, bye bye wormies!
So how does one ensure everything stays above zero? Well unfortunately it’s much more difficult when employing the ‘continuous’ compost method as I am doing (vs ‘batch’ - essentially adding all your material at once; large batch type compost piles can generate a great deal of heat, potentially killing the red worms so thats not really a viable option).
I have been adding a lot of carbon rich materials (cardboard, paper, leaves etc) to the bin (stock-piling them as well) since these will essentially act as our ‘fuel’ - the materials microbes will munch on, creating heat in the process. Of course we’ll need a good source of nitrogen as well - think of that as our ‘flame’. The carbon rich materials tend to be good bulking agents also, thus allowing for sufficient air flow - very important for effective composting (and thus heating).
Generating heat will only get us so far - obviously we need to keep that heat in as much as possible. As I mentioned in my leaf-composting post I decided use some excess plastic packaging/bags for insulating the bin. I ended up stapling garbage bags to the outside of the bin and then simply stuffing them. It ended up working fairly well, although it wasn’t possible to stuff them as much as I had hoped (for fear of tearing loose the garbage bags). Next year I’m sure I’ll come up with something a litte more creative (and reuseable) - some sort of thick blanket filled with waste plastic perhaps.
I’ve also covered the bin with a tarp to help fend off cold winter winds and precipitation, along with a thick layer of fall leaves on top of the main composting mass to help keep the heat in.
So far so good. I’ve been able to maintain an internal temperature of at least 10 degrees C (50F), and we’ve definitely had some cold spells already. I checked yesterday and temps actually ranged from 15-30 degrees C (59-86F).
That being said, I know its only going to get colder from here!
One thing I definitely need to do is track down a decent supply of farmyard manure - a great material for helping to keep a compost heap active and warm. I don’t think kitchen scraps alone are going to cut it.
Ok, I definitely don’t want to make this post TOO long! I’ll be sure to add more composter updates as winter moves in. If anyone else in a wintery location feels inspired to make a go of it themselves be sure to fire me an email to let me know how you are doing or even better - write your own post and I’ll add it to the blog!
By the way, here is a Flickr image gallery of various composting images, including the insulated bin and of course ‘Old Faithful’ (my ‘milk carton compost companion‘). Click on the images to see a bigger version and description.
Technorati Tags: composting, compost, composter, vermicomposting, red worms, worm bin, kitchen scraps
Note: The Winter Composting Extravaganza has moved to a new home. To catch all the latest winter composting action be sure to check out the Compost Guy Winter Composting Page.
Written by Bentley on November 9th, 2006 with
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