Compost Sak

To get started- Fill your Compost Sak bins with leaves and/or grass clippings from your garden. You will notice how fast composting works by how fast the leaves drop down and compress. Keep filling the compost bins, as decomposing happens. Put your kitchen scraps in, along with the leaves and grass clippings from your garden. Be sure to bury the kitchen scraps (food). Do not leave food scraps out in a way that might attract critters. We have found the best way to turn your garden composter is with a small pitchfork or any long handle, such as a broom handle. Insert the broom handle and push it up in a shovel motion. The stirring motion mixes up the garden composting leaves nicely without getting caught on anything. Do not strain too hard in mixing, as the mix is composting anyway.

Once you notice compost coming to the top of your bins, it is time to start a new Compost Sak. The ideal use of your garden composter is to have two going at the same time. When the first Compost Sak starts to look full, stop adding anything to it, and start filling the second garden compost bins. Everything in the first Sak will quickly be garden compost. It will be heavy so don't try to move it. Shovel it into a wheel barrel or move what you need with a bucket. You may be able to roll the composter to your garden area. Keep in mind that a Compost Sak filled with compost will be very heavy.

After dumping the compost, you can re-use the Compost Sak bins. The product is guaranteed for one year, but you should get many years of use from the Compost Sak.

What Goes Into Compost?

What can you add to your composter or composting bucket? Almost anything organic that will break down! A compost pile is a living ecosystem. For that ecosystem to thrive, it needs moisture, oxygen, and the right mix of ingredients, especially carbon and nitrogen. Carbon is the energy source for compost. Nitrogen provides the proteins that microbes need to grow in your compost.

The Brown-Green Mix:
In garden composting, you hear a lot about the Brown-Green mix. What is brown and green? Green materials provide the nitrogen in your compost bucket. They are usually green in color with a high water content.

Examples of Green Mix:

Leftover vegetables, fruit, and peels

Leftover bread and pasta

Coffee grounds

Leftover molasses & honey

Citrus wastes

Rotted squash & pumpkins

Unused herbs

Tea bags and grounds

Egg shells

Cow, chicken, rabbit manure*

Tobacco wastes

Leftover Cheese or Yogurt

Shrimp, Crab & Lobster shells

Spoiled canned goods *Note for manure- We recommend composting the manure of plant-eating animals, such as birds or cattle. Do not compost the waste of meat-eating animals such as dogs or cats.

Brown Materials:
Brown materials provide the carbon. They are usually yellow, tan, or brown in color with low moisture. Keep in mind that some items are both Brown & Green, and perfect for composting. Freshly cut grass, for example, has a high water content and is considered a green even though it will quickly dry and turn into a brown. Do not worry about the label, just add it to your compost bucket.

Examples of Brown Mix:

Grass clippings, weeds, and leaves

Wood chips, tree bark, sawdust

Hay or straw

Pine needles

Napkins and Paper towels

Wool, old leather

Wood ashes

Shredded newspapers

Alfalfa, Nut shells

Houseplant trimmings or potted garden soil

Hair We recommend two to three parts Brown for every one part Green. Don't worry about the exact proportions. The material you have available to compost will always be changing. Your composter fill will always be an approximation.

As you work with composters, you will quickly learn how to keep the mix healthy. If the composters give off an ammonia odor or looks soggy, there is too much green add more brown. If the compost pile is too dry and crunchy add more green.

Worms-Yes! Composting and vermiculture work together. Many of our customers add worms to their Compost Sak bucket. Worms will help with the natural breakdown of compost. They will regenerate inside the Compost Sak. You do not have to add worms for the Compost Sak to work, but it can add to the fun!