My composting technique is basically to throw the kitchen scraps on top of the ground and dig it into the soil. I prefer to dig down to about 12 inches and from time to time turn it over.
I also have a wood chipper and any leaves and branches that fit into it create a pile from which I can take and put into the same compost area and mix it in.
I need to identify the type of trees we have in the front yard but they have thousands of balls that fall down. They go into the leaf shredder and make very nice and fluffy material that reminds me of peat moss. When mixed into the compost area it really helps break up the clay soils here.
Then I let it sit for about a year and just let whatever wants to grow up and it seems to be the most hardy things growing here. It rivals just about anything we grow in pots.
We have some potatoes, melons, tomatoes and other things right now.
Then I move over and create another spot as the new compost area. Now that we have had chickens since last summer, we have let them eat the scraps. They poop all over and make the entire area very fertilized. So even though we lose lots of the greens, they more than make up for it with their waste.
So far this is working well. This is the 3rd growing season using this technique.
We have to buy some compost this week. I'll get a cubic yard which will be mixed with other dirt we already have and the native soil.
On Tue, May 12, 2026 someone wrote:
The compost pile sounds exciting! Speaking of which, I just made this video for work, Introduction to On-Farm Composting
On Tuesday, May 12th, 2026, someone wrote:
Great job on the video!
On Tue, May 12, 2026 someone wrote:
Thanks so much! I put the video together with Canva Pro which includes stock video clips. I couldn't believe that they had stock video of a compost thermometer!.
My co-worker Jeremy did the narration and also the original music!
We had consultation with Jean Bonhotal from Cornell who is a leading authority on composting. Pretty neat to have support from our academic community.
Dan does our composting at home but it's not nearly that sophisticated. I am learning so much.
On Wednesday, May 13, 2026, someone wrote:
Isn't chicken poop real acidic and needs to be watered down?
On Wednesday, May 13th, 2026, someone wrote:
Yes, it must have time to be diluted. You can't plant directly into compost people sell - it'll burn and kill the plants.
