Are mushrooms a good or bad sign? I was gleefully happy this morning when I opened the bin regardless.

I came home after a trip and so hadn't turned the pile in a week and we have tons of cute little mushrooms! I turned and added more greens and browns but this is so exciting lol!

Did I set this up incorrectly? It seems to be composting. It was very hot and smoking. It seems a bit wet today. However, my problem is that I never get any compost on the compost side/negative side. It seems to just blob up on the input side.

Anyone else dealing with swampy compost after some biblical level rain and flooding? My pile normally drains fine, I’m used to having to add water. Plan is to spread it out to dry a little and add more browns.

No peeing on the compost for now :(

Hi, I built this at the weekend and looking for advice. It’s maybe 60/40 brown/green and wondering if it’s good to break down etc. probably dropped a foot since filling it up but assume just settling. Also watered it for good measure

My idea is to now leave as is to break down, and turn it into the second bin when the leaves start to fall in autumn

Got five Toulouse goslings this spring and my compost is enjoying a renaissance.

They mow my lawn and crap it back out into their coop creating a very nice ratio of turds to pine shavings that i can get dirt cheap from an amish sawmill nearby.

Then when​ their pond gets to crappy I just turn a valve and gravity delivers it down a hose straight onto my pile (my other mai​n source of greens is ​dry beans that i fish out of the trash at work. Takes a lot of moisture to get them to break down​)

Also I rarely have to mow​ AND they're adorable.

I am starting to compost and have a tumbler outside and a small counter bin inside. I noticed that it’s starting to grow mold on the contents before I’ve dumped it … is that anything to worry about or address or just part of the process?

I'm looking at starting a black solider fly composter. Anyone who's started their first one, did you rely on there being native black soldier flies in your area, or did you buy larvae to get started ?

The outside looks a bit shiny to me but I'm an anxious person who over thinks things. I went to the company website and it didn't have any information.

Would this be good for a pile?

Need a solution to get rid of maggots in my composting tumbler.

I know tumblers aren't great, but its what I got for now.

I know maggots are good for breaking stuff down but they turn into flies and with my chicken coop nearby there's hundreds of flies that are attracted to their poop.

How can I get rid of the maggots and still keep working on the compost??

I started composting without a proper spot and started out in a salad mix container, but that almost immediately became too small so I started a second. But I didn’t put holes in the second, so it collected water. I did stir it a little about a week in but then it sat straight for like a week. The other had holes and drained pretty well, with similar turning but maybe an additional two weeks at the start.

Just tonight, I got a Rubbermaid-style bin from goodwill without a lid for $1.50, drilled holes in it, and dumped them in and stirred them together along with the latest kitchen scraps. The waterlogged one stunk pretty bad, but the better one smelled only somewhat rotten and much more earthy.

Together, they fill maybe 1/8 or the big bin total. Maybe. I stacked them together on the one side to condense it all and really gave it a good stir. So mixing the two together, how long ought it take to correct the bacterial content with better cultures and proper composting? A week? Two?

Overall, that side of the deck smells a bit, but I know it’ll calm down over time. I just hope our downstairs neighbors don’t notice and make a stink (lol) as it corrects. It’s about 12’ from our shared exterior door, so I imagine it should be fine.

I’d share a pic, but it was already really dark by the time I got to it due to our evening schedule. Will try to get a pic in the morning before I leave for work and share it later.

I just saw a video where someone tried to grow a plant in 100% lomi soil made from fast food. Whats everyones thoughts about lomi over normal composting?

Is this a good pile if it's a few days in? I don't have a pitchfork so I feel like turning is never efficient enough