Building your compost pile

I build my compost pile slowly with organic components when I turn it. In one season, blood, bone meal, kelp, seabird guano, k-mag, azomite or paramagnetic rock and lime are added. I also add all my kitchen scraps, which the worms that moved in love. It's built like a fine organic soil.

The green to brown carbon to nitrogen ratio is always balanced. If there is too much of one, the larger quantity is put at the bottom of the pile when I turn it. Beneficials like Oregonism XL or Great White and bokashi are added to keep it hot. It's steaming pretty much all the time.

I am going to let it rest over the winter and screen with 1/4" sieve. My current outdoor mix is 50% Sunshine #4, 40% compost, 10% earthworm castings and lighten it up a bit with some perlite until it looks "peppered".

Compost is used for gardening, but I'm trying to make compost MADE for gardening. Does anyone else build their compost pile like they build a soil?

BillFarthing said:

I build my compost pile slowly with organic components when I turn it. In one season, blood, bone meal, kelp, seabird guano, k-mag, azomite or paramagnetic rock and lime are added. I also add all my kitchen scraps, which the worms that moved in love. It's built like a fine organic soil.

The green to brown carbon to nitrogen ratio is always balanced. If there is too much of one, the larger quantity is put at the bottom of the pile when I turn it. Beneficials like Oregonism XL or Great White and bokashi are added to keep it hot. It's steaming pretty much all the time.

I am going to let it rest over the winter and screen with 1/4" sieve. My current outdoor mix is 50% Sunshine #4, 40% compost, 10% earthworm castings and lighten it up a bit with some perlite until it looks "peppered".

Compost is used for gardening, but I'm trying to make compost MADE for gardening. Does anyone else build their compost pile like they build a soil?

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I try to think of it as a Big Buffet for the redworms, who then make a big buffet for the chickens.

I recently was scraping leaves off a hillside as part of a wildfire prep/prevention project. Guess I had a bit o' caffeine ... with a side order of Phantom Cookies and Blueberry Headband

I scraped hard enough to fatigue the steel rake I was using (drilled out the rivet, drilled a new hole on the other end of the aluminum pipe handle, etc.) and noticed that I was getting a lot of humus, big chunks of it.

I was scraping the humus and leaves on the hillside onto a tarp.

Some of that I burn. The better mixes I put in a compost pile.


I also have been adding premium organic wood ash (burned by me ) for potassium and bone meal (for Phosphorus).

I put about 2 pounds in a bucket and then water it down. Then I fold it into the extra leaves (which are basically organic cellulose.)

I figure it's no more pleasant for a worm to bite into some dry powder than it would be for us. Also it spreads better as a slurry/solution.