Intro and Question

Buckeye608

Hola ladies, I've lurked on the board for awhile and gotten some great tips in the past.  I usually just post on the Boston local board, but have recently moved to the Midwest.

I had a question about composting.  We've just recently started, and I was wondering what "dry" items I could compost, I've read some articles online that recommend a balance of "green" and "brown" materials, and I'm worried that we'll have a signifcantly greater amount of green materials than brown given that we mostly have kitchen waste and grass clippings from our small yard.  Could I add paper that I would normally recycle to the compost so it doesn't get too wet?  Should I worry about the ink from printed paper? Or should our bin aid in the aeration?

TIA!

Alisha_A

Welcome!!

Inks (and probably other chemicals) can be a concern, although how much you think it matters is really a personal decision. I think when you are using the compost on food plants it does matter more.

I know that some newspapers and other papers (like grocery circulars) where I live use soy ink that is not toxic -- and this is printed somewhere on the paper -- but I live in eco-land Seattle. I'm not sure if that's popular elsewhere!

I'm fortunate in that I pick and choose what goes in my compost vs my city compost, so if I have too much wet stuff I just send most of it off to the city. I often end up with butcher-type paper, the unbleached stuff, and so a lot of times I just wrap my food scraps (a small amount) in that or a brown paper bag before I dump it in the compost bin.

I'm not sure what else constitutes brown that would be easy to get. I've actually gotten leaves (I raked and bagged) off freecycle before, and composted manure off craigslist so if you really want browns I'm sure you can drum some up that way but thats probably more effort than is reasonable.

Hopefully others will have some good advice! I'm glad you posted and hope you'll post more!

SuperGreen

Hello and welcome!  No need to lurk, feel free to post away!  Everyone is very friendly here.

Alisha, I love the new sig pic.  However, it is huge!

Having more greens in your compost isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just means you're giving your plants more nitrogen.  Nitrogen grows leaves, so that's great for landscaping, however if you're putting your compost on vegetables they'll grow tons of leaves and little fruit.  Browns give the compost carbon, which helps make fruit and flowers.

Ditto Alisha on the print on paper.  I compost our newspaper, The Washington Post, because they use soy ink.  I also compost brown paper bags, which are the best way to store mushrooms in the fridge, and Whole Food's coffee bags.  I'm also the crazy women who walks around my neighborhood gathering leaves from the common areas to put in our compost.  You can get leaves from Freecycle too, or check and see if you local municipality will give you access to their curbside yard waste facility.  I know a lot of the local organic growers here get leaves from the city for their compost.

Here's some more brown ingredients from Organic Gardening:

Brown garden debris, such as corn and sunflower stalks, dried legume plants, and dried potato and tomato vines, adds bulk to the pile.
Hedge prunings and twigs help keep a pile fluffy but should be chipped first so they decompose faster.
Leaves are an abundant carbon source and full of nutrients. Stockpile them in fall so that you have them on hand in summer.
Pine needles decompose slowly. Add only small amounts to your pile. Use excess needles as a mulch.
Straw bulks up a pile, but it should not be confused with hay, which often contains weed and grass seeds and shouldn't be added to compost (unless you want to deal with the potential consequences).

Jen&Joe06

I shred all of our confidential mail and documents and add those to our compost. Also brown bags, toilet paper rolls and egg cartons.