I have to confess that this ebook wasn’t quite what I expected. I was expecting it to be simple, straightforward, and practical “what to compost and how to add it” lists. It was far from “simple,” and there is lots of theory here, although I would not call it impractical. Still, Everything You Want to Know About How to Compost Everything is a fascinating book, and I do recommend it – just don’t have the same expectations I did!
The first portion of the book provides a history of composting. Unless you’re very interested, you can safely skip this section.
The second portion discusses the ecological balance of soil and compost, and why and how composting works. It describes how temperature affects composting, what sorts of microorganisms are involved, and why aerobic and anaerobic composting happen differently. And a lot more – this is quite the science text! The author has made the science understandable, “translating” difficult terms when necessary, but it’s still pretty heavy-duty science and was slow reading for me. When you’ve finished it, you’ll have an excellent understanding of why and how composting works, which should help you to understand what is wrong if your compost gets off-balance, and to correct it.
After that, we get into some more thoroughly practical considerations, for a while. There is a discussion of composting systems. How does each one work? What are the benefits and costs of each? How do you choose the system that is best for you? Then there is a discussion of potential problems – such as odors – in compost bins/heaps, and suggested solutions.
Then the text gets rather philosophical again. There are chapters about “waste in the 20th century,” and “21st century.” These tackle issues like the sorts of waste we produce, how they do or don’t break down, and possible alternatives.
Although there is a good deal of practical information woven throughout the book, what you’re most interested in is probably in the appendices that follow. (The appendices form about 40% of the book, so this should not imply that it’s an insignificant portion of the text.) The first three appendices are lists – with explanations – of all the items you can put in your compost, you cannot put in your compost, and which you can put into your compost if you understand certain factors. There is then a final appendix that describes the “wee beasties” you may find in your compost.
Do not expect this to be a simple, straightforward how-to book; expect it to be packed with science. However, do expect it to contain the information you need to produce balanced compost – you just might have to skim for it if you don’t want all the heavy science.
There are a number of charts here that are very helpful. Charts tell you which items are hot or cold, wet or dry. What kind of carbon:nitrogen balance do they have? Which composting systems are aerobic or anaerobic, cold or hot? The author is from the UK, so measurements are all in cm and celsius; if you are in the US, you will probably want to print the ebook out so you can perform the conversions once and write them in. (My conservative readers may also have to overlook some mildly liberal ecological views.)
Bottom line: I found the whole book fascinating, if a little slow to get through. Less curious readers might not be so fascinated by the whole text, but will probably still benefit from the lists and charts if they’re dedicated to producing a really good compost. If you’ve never composed before, I would probably combine this reading with something more basic like the composting information in The Shoestring Gardener.
Disclosure: The author provided a copy of the ebook to facilitate my review. As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
An interesting topic. I feel like when I put sotheming in the compost pile I’m leaving it for nature to take care of with possibly some slight management assistance like turning the pile and balancing wet/dry ingredients. Other than that I leave it to the microbes, bacteria, fungi, worms, bugs, etc to turn it into dirt. We hesitate to toss any biodegradable materials. Wood is burned or chipped, paper/cardboard is shredded and used as bedding for the rabbits or laid flat in the garden paths to stamp out weeds. All left over food stuffs, even dairy, meat, oils etc are put into compost spots. Anything that can be fed to chickens, goats, rabbits or pigs is and anything left is composted. We also compost leftovers from processing animals and if we have deadstock. Everything we can return to the ground is. Heavier compost loads are left longer and ones that have mostly green/brown matter are used up faster. We have piles that are designated to never receive meat/dairy/oil products and ones that it’s ok to have that kind of stuff as an ingredient. Anything recyclable gets recycled and taken to the drop off spot when we have a good load. We’ve thought about holding back all metals but right now lack the storage space to accumulate them. We try to limit our actual trash to as little as possible but we try also realize that this isn’t always possible and not to beat our selves up too much when it is just time to throw sotheming away. Fabric/material/etc is sotheming we’ve been having trouble finding a good way to return to the earth/recycle. Specifically things that are completely infested with pet hair. We use couch blankets to keep the dogs off the furniture and there is only so long these will stay fresh before the 10th washing just doesn’t get out the dog smell. I try to then recycle them as dog beds on the porch but eventually they are just gross and or falling apart and need to go. I can compost smaller bits or shredded pieces to some extent and we use them similarly to the cardboard to block out weeds. Any other ideas?