The third iteration of Compostville is online and soon will be accepting gardeners’ food scraps! The short videos below demonstrate the system and clarify some dos and don’ts.
Here’s the garden’s UVM Extension Master Composter project leader, Andrea Stander, with a brief tour of the new system.
One concern people have about composting is that it will smell. It doesn’t. Not if you’re actually composting (which does not mean random piles of rotting food—that’s not how we compost!). The compost we’re getting up close and personal with has been sitting in a tumbler since November. It smells like fresh earth.
Here’s what’s not compost: plastic. Removing all labels and stickers from food before putting it in a food scrap bin keeps someone else from having to pick them out of the system.
What else isn’t compost? “Compostable” plastic bags. At least in this large backyard system and other small-scale compost systems, just say no to compostable plastic.
It’s a fine-tuning process. Some food scraps Went in with too much sawdust or wood chips. The compost team will come up with a recipe and create clear signage so gardeners bringing their food scraps will know how to use the system.
