Adventures in Speed Composting.

John and I built this compost bin on April 5th, 2013.  We spin it every time we add to it, every other day or so.  It stays hot and moist inside, and makes quick work of our composting.  It's 5 1/2 weeks later, and I filtered what's in there to use in the garden.  Our composting method doesn't involve a period of time where we stop adding to it and let it finish "cooking," so filtering it allows us to use our compost sooner.  Doing it this way doesn't break down all of the seeds that make it into the bin, so we do have some uninvited guests in our garden, primarily tomato and pepper sprouts.  We have to be careful not to add weeds that have gone to seed, of course (we make "weed tea" out of those--a potent and super stinky drink for the garden).  

The Urban Composter by Sweed's Fabrication.

My low-tech compost filtering system.

I shoveled some of the contents of the composter into the milk crate so it was about 1/3 full.  Then, with the milk crate over the tub, I mixed the compost around with the hand rake to break up clumps.  Then I gave the milk crate a few good shakes, then mixed it, then shook it some more.  What was left in the milk crate went into the blue tub till I'd finished filtering everything in the composter, then it went back into the composter to break down further.  It was 7 batches in the milk crate, and took about 20 minutes.

What went back in the composter.

Finished compost!

A little over a month's worth of kitchen scraps, coffee grounds and filters, dryer lint, paper napkins and weeds mixed with about the same amount of straw.