$299 + Pee + Dead Fish = High-End Composting

My NatureMill automatic composting machine (pictured left) was among the gems left behind by the former tenant of my apartment. It is a small electric composter that uses heat and motion to speed up the natural decomposing process of organic materials. I keep it in my kitchen and it magically turns food, paper and plant scraps into fertile soil that I can use in my garden. THIS BLOWS ME AWAY.

So how does it work? What does pee have to do with it? And why does anyone need a $299 machine to do something that already occurs naturally? I suppose those are all reasonable questions. Be prepared to be amazed...

The process of composting is basically just decomposition- it's nature's way of recycling dead materials. Humans have created a few techniques to speed up this natural process, such as worm bins (aka vermicomposting), backyard compost piles, and grasscycling. The NatureMill is faster, cleaner and more compact than any of these methods.

To start, I had to plug in my NatureMill, and it has to stay plugged in at all times. I added some living soil from outdoors into the chamber, along with 2 cups of sawdust pellets and 2 tablespoons of baking soda. The combination of these ingredients creates an environment full of active living cultures. It's like having another pet! I now have a hamster, a fish, and a heated box of living cultures.

Whenever I have organic scraps to get rid of, I don't put them in my trash can. I just lift up the lid and throw them into the interior chamber of the NatureMill! The cultures and heat break down the organic matter, the machine turns to mix it all up, and in a few weeks it turns into fresh compost that looks and smells like garden soil. I can add new scraps every day at any time, and I add more sawdust and baking soda every few days to keep it in balance.

The instruction manual to this machine is very intimidating. There is quite a lot of bold and ALL CAPS and italic text, scattered with underlines and highlights. Heck, I even found a sentence that was all caps bold underlined:

DO NOT EAT & WASH HANDS THOROUGHLY AFTER CONTACT.

This is because fresh compost can actually be pretty dangerous! I can't take a batch of compost straight from my NatureMill and throw it into my garden. Among other health risks, the nitrogen levels are so high that the compost would actually burn and kill my plants. When the compost is ready to be removed from the NatureMill, I'll have to cure it in an uncovered bucket outdoors for at least 4 months before it can come in contact with my garden. To give you an idea of how strong it is, one part of fully cured compost should be mixed with 10-20 parts regular soil.

Things I've discovered I can compost aside from the usual food waste:

• used or unused paper napkins
• latex condoms... used or unused!
• lint from the clothes dryer and dust from behind my refrigerator
• used matches
• wine corks (real cork, not your Three Buck Chuck foam corks)
• coffee grounds, including the filter they were brewed in
• my pet fish when he dies (hey, it'll happen eventually, I gotta get ready!)
• my hamster's droppings (and possibly my hamster when he dies as well)
• white glue
• Q-tips (the cardboard ones, not the off-brand plastic ones)
• teabags, but take off the metal staple that attaches the tag
• hair clippings, hairbrush tangles, and plucked eyebrows
• leather
• the shells of lobsters, crabs, shrimp, oysters, crawfish...
• nail clippings
• toothpicks and wooden skewers
• pet hair, fur and feathers
• pencil shavings
• natural loofah sponges
• swill beer left at the bottom of bottles
• cotton tampons and their cardboard applicators
• Post-It notes! Including the sticky part!
• vacuum cleaner filter contents
• weeds from my garden and dead trimmings from my houseplants
• human urine (oh boy!)

Things I've discovered I CANNOT compost that I thought I could:

• walnut shells... they're toxic to plants!
• charcoal ashes from my grill (wood ashes are ok)
• cat or dog droppings
• dyed or shiny-coated paper
• fats and cooking oils, which can act as a preservative to hinder decomposition
• bones, such as from my buffalo chicken wings
• any dairy products except for moldy cheese
• any kind of meat (meat will indeed decompose, but it attracts some SERIOUS critters in the meantime)
• human excrement (aw, shucks!)

Since I've started composting, I've cut down severely on the amount of trash I produce. This is great for the environment and all, but guess how many kitchen trash bags I've used in the last 2 months: Three. At that rate, It'll take me over a year to get through this 20-pack of trash bags I have in my closet. Hellooooo, money saver!

What are the downsides? Well, it can be a bit loud when the gears start turning to flip the compost a few times a day. And if you aren't aware of keeping the balance of materials (equal parts greens, paper, nitrogen, etc), it can start to smell a bit earthy. The one major issue I've run into is that I have too much material to compost and it can't all fit into the NatureMill at once.

Shop for composters at the NatureMill website. If you decide to buy one, let me know in the comments below- I have 3 coupons for the NatureMill store that I'd like to give away!

Comments

[Sarah Kiernan]

I'm 100% willing to come pee into your machine.

[Amy]

Agh, I've always wanted a composter! I feel bad using my garbage disposal when I could be making perfectly good soil!

[Caseywilliams]

I have one of their composters. But the thing is so loud (especially when it's not full), that I stopped using it. 475 sq feet plus two people apparently does not leave room for a clonky composter. But I wanted so much to love it, I really did. If anybody in Boston wants to buy it and has a kitchen further away from the bedroom than I do... let me know!

[Martina Fugazzotto]

Casey, that is so funny because I originally had the same issue! I live in a studio apartment, so my "bedroom" is also my "kitchen" (and my living room, dining room, office...). I ended up moving the composter as far away from my bed as possible and surrounded it with my recycling bins. My theory was that the new location would buffer the noise. I can't tell if it worked, or if I just got so used to it that it doesn't matter anymore!

[Caseywilliams]

Hmmm maybe I should try again!

[michelle finn]

We love our composter here at Frenchboro School. We actually add it to our outdoor composter and it spends up the entire process. The kids don't seem to notice the sound, which is great and in the summer, I take it home with me and just keep it running all summer (like you said, sort of like a pet!). This thing totally rocks my world. I wrote a grant to get it for our school garden/composting service project and I have not been sorry! I heard that eucalyptus leaves can poison a compost so I stay away from those, and apparently peonies carry diseases that can spread in a compost so I avoid those too. I have yet to pee in ours as somehow I think our school board would have issues with that...

[Martina Fugazzotto]

Thanks for the tips about eucalyptus and peonies! I love the blog where you're documenting your one-room schoolhouse adventures. So cool to read about it!

[Alana]

Ok, I realize this post is quite old and the coupons may not be available anymore but if you still have them I would love one. The NatureMill website says you can do dog poo. I hope so, do you think you can do dog pee? My dogs are litterbox trained, I'd love to compost that.

[Preet]

I'm tempted to join you in compnstiog but I'm pretty sure that I won't qualify for the check since we have not one, but two bigger gray trash carts that are full every week. I envy your green-ness !

[Rakeshkumar]

I was at Good Will the other day and a man was buying a used toy chest the large ptlsaic kind made from fisher price I think. He said he was going to drill some holes in the bottom and use it for a compost bin closer to his house.. I bet it will work ok because those things are made to last.

[Olita]

I watched this prior to abnemslisg the compost tumbler and was a little worried the directions and the assembly would be bad. I have to say the directions were spot on. Every part was clearly identified and at least to me, the directions were very precise. I kept waiting for? the gotcha moment and it never came. I was actually looking forward to a long assembly time to get me out of other chores but I was done in an hour. And, I clearly didn't hurry.