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Showerthought: my simple compost bin turned into a 3-month science project
I wanted to cut food waste, so I built a basic wooden bin in my Portland backyard last spring. The pile just sat there wet and cold for weeks, not breaking down at all. I spent over a month reading up, turning it, and balancing 'greens and browns' before it finally got hot. Has anyone else had a tiny climate action take way longer than you planned?
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smith.elliot6mo ago
Yeah, getting the pile hot is a whole thing.
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violag806mo ago
I used to think composting was just throwing scraps in a bin. Trying to get the pile hot taught me it's a real skill, didn't it? That little project definitely took over my weekends for a while.
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ruby6593mo ago
Is there any real endgame with the perfect hot pile, or are we all just chasing some imaginary balance that nature laughs at? The way people talk about layering greens and browns like it's some secret recipe makes me wonder if we're overcomplicating dirt. You spend weeks turning and watering and checking the temperature, and what do you get? A pile that might be warm but still smells like a science experiment gone wrong. Maybe the magic is just accepting that it does its own thing no matter how much we poke at it.
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