Compost Your State Fair Bag

Kitchens scraps, yard waste — even the compostable corn-starch plastic bag you got from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission at the State Fair this year — become useful again when you put them in a compost pile.

How To Make A Simple Compost Pile
Locate your compost pile outdoors at least two feet away from existing structures such as buildings or fences. Use an area that is not more than 5 feet wide and 5 feet long.

Start by wetting the ground. Then lay down an uneven “ground floor” of branches that will trap pockets of air under the pile. Pile on alternating layers of nitrogen-yielding materials (grass clippings, manure, kitchen scraps) and carbon-yielding materials (autumn leaves, dried hay, your State Fair bag). Make the top of the pile a carbon layer.

For Faster Composting
Compost happens. There, we said it. But it can take up to two years for composting to complete. You can speed up the process, however. You can compost materials in six weeks if you periodically turn the compost pile with a pitchfork, add water to keep the pile damp (not wet), and enclose the pile within walls or in a bin that will trap heat and moisture, known as “hot” composting.

Enclosures help keep animals out, although some compost makers actually house domestic rabbits over the compost area or even let chickens range over the pile, because they add manure.

Compost is finished when you can’t tell the ingredients apart. It should smell sweet and earthy and crumble apart in your fingers.

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