When composting first came on my radar as something I might want to do, I had some hesitance. It felt like one of those things where there was a “right way” to do it. Ratios, turning schedules, keeping it hot, keeping it balanced. It started to sound like a part-time job, and I wasn’t interested in that.
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But at its core, composting is simple. It’s just breaking things down so they can go back into the soil. Food scraps, leaves, grass, all of it eventually turns into something your plants can actually use. You’re taking what would’ve been trash and turning it into something useful again.
That’s it. No certification required.
Now, there are a few different ways to go about it, and I’ve tried many of them.
The first one I used was a compost tumbler. It’s contained, clean, and makes you feel like you’ve got your life together. You add your “greens” like food scraps and grass, your “browns” like leaves and paper, and give it a turn every so often. If you keep a decent balance, a little more brown than green, it does a really good job.
The only downside is if you keep adding to it, you’ve always got a mix of finished and not-quite-finished compost. Which is fine, unless you’re the kind of person who wants things done and done. I am, sometimes.
So I added a second one - with dual chambers.
One stayed active, the other got left alone to finish. When one was ready, I’d switch them out. It worked well, and I ran that system for years like I knew exactly what I was doing.
Then I got curious and tried a worm bin.
And I’ll tell you, it works. Those worms will handle business. You can even keep it indoors without any smell if it’s set up right. But it was a little more hands-on than I wanted. There’s a level of commitment there. You’ve got to check on them, keep things balanced, make sure they’re happy. And I realized… I don’t need one more thing depending on me like that (let alone hundreds!)
Where I finally landed is the simplest thing I’ve done yet.
A pile of leaves.
When we moved onto this property, we had three massive oak trees and more leaves than I knew what to do with. We’re talking piles on piles, years of buildup. So we started hauling them to the back of the property and dumping them in one spot.
And then… we left them alone.
No turning. No measuring. No schedule. No guilt about not turning it.
They get watered when it rains. They break down when they’re ready. And if I pull back the top layer of fresh leaves, underneath is dark, rich, beautiful mulch that’s ready to use.
And I don’t have to go anywhere to get it. I’m not hauling bags home, not paying for something I’ve already got sitting in my own yard. It’s just there when I need it.
(and it's probably better than anything I'd get at the store anyways!)
That’s when it clicked.
Depending on how quickly you want compost ready, and how contained you need it to be, it can get as structured as you want. Or you can give it space and let it do what it’s been doing long before we showed up.
Now, every time we clean up the yard, the leaves go to the same place. If we’ve got kitchen scraps, they go out there too. Not in any organized way, just tossed in with no thought or strategy. And if you’ve got chickens, even better. They’ll scratch through it, turn it for you, eat what they want, and act like they were the ones in charge of the whole operation.
It’s not fancy. It’s not as fast as worms. But it works for me.
And that’s really the point.
If you’ve got a small space, use a tumbler. If you want something faster and don’t mind tending it, try worms. If you’ve got the room and the patience, pile it up and let nature handle it.
There’s no one right way to do this.
Just don’t throw away what could be turned into something useful.
From The Field: Compost doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be started.