It's easy being green: Composting

From dictionary.com
compost–noun
1.a mixture of various decaying organic substances, as dead leaves or manure, used for fertilizing soil.

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Composting seems like a dirty subject to tackle so quickly. My personal feelings are recycling and composting are some of the easiest things we can all do to help our planet. I am really into gardening, so I looked into composting for this reason, a cheap alternative to purchasing compost. I also homeschool my son and we have created a small compost system for a science project, so that he would understand what we were doing with the big garbage can in our backyard. You can compost at virtually any size and for whatever reason you choose.

Here is what we did:

I had an old garbage can that I placed in the farthest corner of our back yard. My kids are huge ice cream eaters, I buy them the giant 1 gallon buckets with a lid and a handle. When they finish the ice cream I clean them out and let them dry, then I leave them in a convenient place in the kitchen. We use these small bins whenever we make a salad, eggs, empty the coffemaker, etc. Then empty them into the large bin out back at a later time. Now I know what you are thinking --"Geez, with all that garbage how do you stand the smell?" Actually, as long as the lid is on tight on the bins in our home there really is no smell. There are plenty of products that you can purchase to offset the smell if you feel the need to, but honestly we don't have a problem with it.

It really is that simple, but there are a few things you should remember:

Composting is best comprised of 1/3 green materials, 2/3 brown materials.
Brown materials can be anything from newspapers to yard waste. Newspapers work best if torn into strips and you can't use the glossy pages. Even things like the cardboard paper tubes in paper towel rolls, and paper towels themselves can be considered brown materials. Don't use weeds or plants that you don't want in your yard next year. Also watch out for anything chemically treated, you don't want those chemicals in your natural compost.
Green materials are basically food scraps. Use just about anything, except dairy, meat, and bones.
Don't ever put pet feces in with your compost.

The way that I compost is the 'lazy' way. I just dump all my materials on top and let nature do its trick, but it takes a long time. (When I am ready to use my compost I must retrieve it from the bottom of the pile. I have plans to cut a small door into the bottom of my can so that I don't have to dump the whole thing over every time I want compost.) Now you can follow in my shoes, or use these proactive ways to get that compost going.

Buy some red wriggler worms. They will eat all the materials and create good dirt for you.
Turn your compost, I do this every once in a while, with a shovel. You can also buy bins, or make bins with turning devices in the midst of them.
Chop your materials up, use a lawnmower without the bagging device, or buy a special lawnmower that does this for you.
Don't use a bin at all, if you have a large enough area you can just wall off a spot of land and throw all your materials there. Turning is much easier without the confines of a bin.

There are tons of products and information out there. Here are a few links to get you started:

Happy Composting!