Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: A composting program at a LARGE cohousing -- How??

[Nancy Baumeister (nancybee]

We here at Coho Ecovillage (34 households) in  Corvallis have been
composting successfully since move-in.

The compost is overseen by one person with help as needed.

We make hot compost without turning. We basically follow the methods
used by Joe Jenkins to compost humanure.See
http://weblife.org/humanure/index.html. The composting information there
is the best on the internet. http://weblife.org/humanure/chapter3.html

For the first year we used wire hoops like this
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nancybeetoo/3133753417/. Temperatures
generally run around 120 to 140 F
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nancybeetoo/3134575062. We let them sit to
mature for 6-12 months before using the compost. In the one pile
pictured you will see a rhubarb plant growing out of the top- that was
an successful experiment in using the bins as planting boxes for heat or
nutrient loving plants.

Since your community is motivated by environmental concersn you will be
glad to learn that with this method all food scraps can be composted and
therefore kept out of the landfill. A hot compost both welcomes and
requires the  addition of high nitrogen  contributions like the
meatballs and fish guts mentioned below.

I have been intending to put up a web page about our compost system. I
will use this inquiry as a spur to  move that project forward.

Nancy in Corvallis, Oregon
Maggie Lee wrote:
> We want to know how others have succeeded.
>
>   

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Everyone in this circle is an aspect of you.
Love them and you will know who you are.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nancybeetoo/
http://www.cohoecovillage.org
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