Compost update after a brief break

Ideally the HCC heaps are turned every few days for optimal efficiency. However, Scott and I took a trip down to Melbourne this weekend just gone, and drove back up to Canberra today. I was excited to see all of the kitchen scraps waiting to go into the heap once we returned.

Thanks to many hours of driving by Scott we got back with great timing and I had enough time to turn bays 1 and 2 before dark tonight 🙂

Bay 1 is now ready to receive any scraps that HCC members have been keeping aside! Thanks to everyone for being patient and accomodating to the disruptions in normal service. I’ll be looking into getting a few ‘compost monitors’ for next time I’m out of town. Especially now that the weather is heating up, it’s best to get the scraps into the heap to start degrading properly instead of just turning into a vinegar fly farm.

Whilst turning bay 2 I found the compostable packaging that Katia had given me so that I could assess it’s degradability. It was originally placed near the top of bay 1, then turned over to the bottom of bay 2. Of course the middle of each heap is where the best degradation happens, with extra heat. Now that the bag is in the middle of bay 3 we might be able to see some more noticeable degradation. It’s certainly already gone ragged around the edges. Has anyone else been getting packages sent in these home compostable bags?

The compost heaps are now back on track. Next thing to do is to wash all of the buckets!

That’s all from me for the moment, but make sure to stop by the ‘Party at the shops’ at Hackett shops this Saturday if you’d like to talk compost! I’ll be there, and happy to answer any questions as per usual 🙂

-Brook