1. 2 months ago. To create compost for plants to enrich the soil and stop using synthetic fertilizer.

2. Suburban .40 acre

3. Outside

4. I keep a ceramic jar in the kitchen for fruit and vegetables scraps, egg shells, and coffee grounds. I have a pile in the back corner of the yard where I layered twigs (only on the bottom layer) and then I layer grass clippings, shredded leaves, kitchen waste, and plant cuttings. No weeds, meat, dairy, or buckthorn.

5. No

6. I turn it about every 7 days.

7. I have a loose pile and it is a problem keeping it tall enough (at least 3 feet). I plan on buying a wire grid and piling it in there.

8. I would like to be able to create a much larger amount of compost. Also, I can't leave the grass clippings on the lawn if I put them on the compost heap.

1. When and why did you start composting?

Needed a way to deal with yard waste and kitchen waste, kitty litter, was starting to work on a 1/2 acre neglected yard and garden.

2. What kind of space do you live in (e.g., small urban, rural with yard, suburban, etc.)?

Small "urban" (small rural town, small lot)

3. Do you keep your compost indoors, outdoors, or both?

Outdoors


4. Describe your current composting process in detail (from collecting food waste to transporting and using your compost).

KITCHEN: Toss kitchen scraps (vegetable trimmings, coffee filters and grounds, with some pellet fuel to soak up excess moisture) in a small bucket, take out to compost bins and toss it in the bins.

CATS: Remove feces from cat's litter boxes and discard in city trash, toss urine-soaked sawdust onto compost bins. The litter is locally produced pellet fuel - compressed sawdust.

YARD: Toss pulled weeds, dead leaves, etc into compost bins.

Occasionally water the compost (it's really dry here) to keep it moist.

When a Compost bin is ready, I sift it and put the good stuff where it is needed.

5. Have you tried alternative methods of composting, such as
vermi-composting, Bokashi composting, etc.? If so, what was your
experience like and why did you change methods?

No. My system is a low-effort, slow system.

6. How often do you turn your compost (if at all)?

I don't, until it goes through the sifter.

7. What problems have you encountered with composting? Describe any
physical, environmental, or other external factors that might influence
your process.

None. The system works.

8. What do you wish you could change about your current system?

Nothing.

1. 1970, in my parent's yard.

2. Suburban, with a decent-sized lot

3. Outside

4. Most non-seed-bearing weeds go into the compost, turves if I'm expanding the garden, fall leaves; for food waste, I have a stainless steel covered bucket on the back porch that it all goes into - coffee, fruit rinds, eggshells - everything except meat and most dairy - and it gets dumped into the bin when the pail is full.

5. No, the bin (4' x 4' x4') is big enough.

6. In the spring, and during the summer if I have time.

7.No problems.

8. I'm good with what I have.

1. About 5 years ago when I started gardening

2. Suburban with a postage stamp lot, but I also own 10 acres in the country

3. 99.9% outdoors, with the .1% being the occasional worm bin in the basemental during boring winters.

4. Pile it where convenient, or scatter it somewhere nearby. I have passive piles all over the place, and usually 1 or 2 more actively managed piles so I have a ready supply.

5. #3 answers this pretty well.

6. I turn it when I want to move a pile. I will turn it if my finished pile is dwindling and I need it finished faster. Otherwise, I tend to not turn that often.

7. None that I can think of.

8. Nothing that I can think of.

My, we are a lackadaisical bunch, aren’t we?

But this is an excellent example of why you shouldn't get hung up on the details and the proportions. We all end up with compost sooner or later.

Moreover, we all end up AS compost sooner or later. ;-)

Let's just say I've been composting long enough to see a lot of eager young designers and design students come along and try to design a new "turnkey solution" for composting. Despite the always-tempting opportunity to talk about myself, I don't really feel like this kind of "survey" is very productive.

There are several things, within the constraints of time and resources, that you could do to learn more efficiently about home composting in practice, including searching past posts on this board, and following up some posts with specific questions. As it is, you've basically asked for people to do a lot of work typing out every possible piece of information, without much focus on the actual issues you need to address.

1. When and why did you start composting?

About 3 years ago. We have a horse farm with 20 horses and only 25 acres, so we had to pay a guy to haul away the manure, soiled hay and bedding. I began composting to reduce costs.

2. What kind of space do you live in (e.g., small urban, rural with yard, suburban, etc.)? See #1 above

3. Do you keep your compost indoors, outdoors, or both? Outdoors

4. Describe your current composting process in detail (from collecting food waste to transporting and using your compost).

Aerobic composting process uses all natural materials from our horse farm in Manakin Sabot, Virginia: Manure, hay, stall bedding, leaves and other organic matter.

5. Have you tried alternative methods of composting, such as vermi-composting, Bokashi composting, etc.? If so, what was your experience like and why did you change methods? No

6. How often do you turn your compost (if at all)? Weekly

7. What problems have you encountered with composting? Describe any physical, environmental, or other external factors that might influence your process. Since our stall bedding is pine sawdust, we had a C/N ratio of 40:1, so we have had to find alternate sources of nitrogen to supplement it.

8. What do you wish you could change about your current system? Right now, I am satisfied. We are trying to create compost products, so we may find issues that need to be addressed further down the road.

Parsely - good point.

The wannabe designers should actually make some compost for a while, then see what can be improved.

Well, I know how it is to be given these assignments in school. You may not have a lot of lead time for research. On the other hand, if the project is a short turn-around, then the amount of information being asked for here seems excessive.

I don't mean to disparage student projects, especially when you're given a subject you weren't previously familiar with; but I'm advising a different approach as this one (asking for every possible piece of information) is unlikely to be very helpful. Maybe identify a few key design issues through background research, and then focus your questions on those.

1. When and why did you start composting?

About 5-6 years ago. I started composting to get rid of spend grains from brewing and yard waste.

2. What kind of space do you live in (e.g., small urban, rural with yard, suburban, etc.)? Suburban .14 acre

3. Do you keep your compost indoors, outdoors, or both? Outdoors in bins.

4. Describe your current composting process in detail (from collecting food waste to transporting and using your compost).

Currently i am dumping all my food and yard waste into bins.

5. Have you tried alternative methods of composting, such as vermi-composting, Bokashi composting, etc.? If so, what was your experience like and why did you change methods?

Nope not yet.
6. How often do you turn your compost (if at all)? Once a day in the tumbling compost bin.

7. What problems have you encountered with composting? Describe any physical, environmental, or other external factors that might influence your process.

The only issues I have had have been with the bin drying out when I neglected it.

8. What do you wish you could change about your current system?

Just wish i had more space for more bins.