Re: what do you put in the compost that other may not of thought of?

**llama momma** 4/29/2015, 8:19 am

CapeCoddess wrote:
Goosegirl wrote:I make my own yogurt and strain it to give it the thick texture, so I end up with LOTS of the liquid 'whey' left. What I don't use in cooking (making bread or waffles) gets poured on my compost pile. From what I have read, it is supposed to be a decent accelerator.

OMG! We should be roommates. I often put the whey in my smoothies. I love it, and will sometimes drink it plain. I usually end up giving the yogurt cheese to my mom or tossing it in the compost if it´s not organic. Not a big fan of todays dairy.

Wow! Let all be roommates, I also drink fresh whey. Created from the process of making traditional kefir in my kitchen. Lucky to have a dairy in the state that sells grass grazed whole milk from non GMO feeds and forage, and no rBST is fed to the cows. For Ohio SFG forum members, its called Snowville Creamery. Hartzler's is another excellent one. I don't think they sell out of state.

Razed Bed 4/29/2015, 9:04 am

Can all who make the yogurt and kefir describe your processes for heating your concoctions to the proper temperatures without getting them too high?

We have tried using the oven light in the oven and putting the glass jars on our patio in the sun, but we seldom get consistent 110 degree temperatures either way. We even built our own dehydrator out of a cardboard box and keyless light, but the 60 watt bulb was not hot enough and the 75 watt bulb was too hot. Adding a small fan to the box did not bring the temperature down.

Eventually we get yogurt, but it is not the best.

Has anybody tried making homemade coconut yogurt or kefir?

CapeCoddess 4/29/2015, 9:38 am

RB, check you PMs. Please excuse the misspellings, lack of capitalization and senseless sentences, if any. The voice feature on my tablet seems to have forgotten its lessons from school and I don't always catch them.

**llama momma** 4/29/2015, 1:16 pm

I make dairy kefir not coconut and is approx. 24 hour ferment at room temp. Check out lots more on line. Yemoos.com or something similar, culture for health is another. An in depth site is doms insight just Google it will cover all you could ever ask and much more

Razed Bed 4/29/2015, 1:46 pm

Many thanks.

CC--I sent you a reply PM

SFGHealthCoach 1/11/2016, 9:43 pm

Question from one of the SFG FB pages:
Is is ok to put unused barley (grains) into the compost?

And what about legumes?
Seems like if you have anything unexpected sprout and grow - that would be a good thing.

Go!

**sanderson** 1/11/2016, 10:38 pm

A good question. It seems to me that an unexpected volunteer here and there is fun. But, to have hundreds or thousands of volunteers in the beds can be a problem, creating over-crowding and nutrient competition. I would soak the seeds to force germination, dry them, then use in compost. The hot Berkeley 18-day method of composting, that I use, kills most seeds. The cooler, slower methods, not so much.

**Scorpio Rising** 1/12/2016, 8:02 am

Good thought, germinate then compost after drying. I would think that it would be OK in a younger pile that you will be turning and working more actively. That way, when you see a ton of germinating seeds, chop and leave exposed. Repeat. Repeat. Lol

milt48 2/6/2016, 3:33 pm

I begged for a five gallon bucket of elephant doo doo when the circus was in town. I did get some strange looks, and got yelled at by my wife transporting it home.

**AtlantaMarie** 2/6/2016, 4:03 pm

I do a cold compost. I'd be very concerned about them sprouting all over the place... So force germinate first.

**sanderson** 2/6/2016, 5:38 pm

milt48 wrote:I begged for a five gallon bucket of elephant doo doo when the circus was in town. I did get some strange looks, and got yelled at by my wife transporting it home.

**Scorpio Rising** 2/6/2016, 5:43 pm

Well, I certainly had NOT thought of that one, Milt! lol!

ralitaco 7/19/2016, 7:54 pm

Hello SFG'ers, I know I've been away for a bit...life has been busy and my SFG has been less than stellar this summer so I haven't had much reason to post.

However, that has changed some. My daughter is hedgehog sitting...not my idea but circumstances, sad faces and the promise of scratch made cookies.

So my question, can I use the hedgehog waste and cedar shakes in my compost pile?
That is not a question I ever thought I would ask

Thanks in advance

**sanderson** 7/20/2016, 12:33 am

RT, Hi there. What is the hedgehog fed? Vegetarian primarily? I would vote yes you can add the pooh.

Cedar shingles? No because cedar is fairly resistant to breaking down, it is fairly irritating to skin and breathing, and if they were ever treated, well then definitely no. Treating older cedar shingles is fairly common here.

Kiwidave 5/7/2020, 9:59 pm

That is an interesting question. I have a paper shredder so I shred toilet rolls, cardboard as long as its safe to do so. I will sometimes put in the oven eggshells and pippie shells ( like a small oyster shell). Then when possible contaminants are gone I put it into a coffee grinder and make a flour out of it. I then add it into the compost bin letting the bacteria convert it.

**Scorpio Rising** 5/7/2020, 11:44 pm

I am not sure because they are carnivores...most carnivorous waste isn’t suitable for composting.

Anyone else?

Emily49 5/20/2020, 5:57 pm

southern gardener wrote:dryer lint and hair from when I cut hair, paper, not glossy but just paper. It's considered a "brown" too which I need sometimes. Good topic!!

is it ok to have the lint from the synthetic fabrics?

**Scorpio Rising** 5/20/2020, 6:45 pm

Mussel shells (so delicious and useful)!

bgardner 5/20/2020, 7:08 pm

One of the composts that I use is called Zoo Brew, a collection of poo and litter from the Columbus Zoo that is composted with horse manure, recycled food & vegetables, leaf humus, and coffee grounds. It's a lot easier than taking a 5-gallon bucket to the circus. Wink

Brian

OhioGardener 5/20/2020, 8:14 pm

bgardner wrote:One of the composts that I use is called Zoo Brew, a collection of poo and litter from the Columbus Zoo that is composted with horse manure, recycled food & vegetables, leaf humus, and coffee grounds. It's a lot easier than taking a 5-gallon bucket to the circus.

Brian

And probably smells a lot better, too! Very Happy

**sanderson** 5/21/2020, 2:50 am

OhioGardener wrote:
bgardner wrote:One of the composts that I use is called Zoo Brew, a collection of poo and litter from the Columbus Zoo that is composted with horse manure, recycled food & vegetables, leaf humus, and coffee grounds. It's a lot easier than taking a 5-gallon bucket to the circus.

Brian

And probably smells a lot better, too!

plantoid 5/21/2020, 3:11 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:I am not sure because they are carnivores...most carnivorous waste isn’t suitable for composting.

Anyone else?

I'd go with that and add you might research to see if their poop is full of slug & snail eggs as well as all manner of parasitic worms/ worm eggs that humans don't want or need. .

Have a read of this :_
https://heavenlyhedgies.com/do-hedgehogs-carry-diseases-harmful-to-humans/

Kiwidave 5/21/2020, 4:29 am

Thank you all for adding to this discussion. Its the best way we can all learn from each other. One thing I forgot to mention which I should have is the temperature of compost can reach in where I live. I leave my compost till it reaches the temperature in which diseases, weeds seed, worm eggs are killed. Where i live it can easily reach over 86 Fahrenheit in the spring and in summer 104-113 Fahrenheit . The compost bins can really get quite hot inside. At times I will leave it for longer than maybe I should.
I liked the hedgehog link.

A question please or do I ask this in another area
Has anyone come across whether the pesticides used in coffee (the grounds in brewing) are negated by composting?
what do you put in the compost that other may not of thought of? - Page 6 3170584802

what do you put in the compost that other may not of thought of? - Page 6 3170584802

OhioGardener 5/21/2020, 8:46 am

Kiwidave wrote: A question please or do I ask this in another area
Has anyone come across whether the pesticides used in coffee (the grounds in brewing) are negated by composting?

This has been a subject of many a conspiracy theorist for years, and there has never been a clear answer - do the coffee beans contain some of the pesticides that are applied to coffee plants? Here is a reasonable explanation from the Coffee Review site:

Agricultural Chemicals and Consumer Health. The consumer health issue is simplest to address. Coffee is not eaten raw like lettuce or apples. The bean is the seed of a fruit. The flesh of this fruit is discarded. Along the way the seed is soaked, fermented, and subject to a thorough drying process. Later it is roasted at temperatures exceeding 400°F, and finally broken apart and soaked in near boiling water. This savage history concludes when we consume only the water in which the previously soaked, fermented, dried, roasted, and infused seed was immersed. Given this history of relentless attrition, it hardly seems possible that much if any of the small amounts of pesticide/fungicide residue permitted by law in green coffee ever make it into the cup.

Probably very little of any residue pesticide would survive the hot composting process. But, don't know that anyone has ever tested it. Meanwhile, the only coffee grounds I use in my gardens and compost is from Starbucks, and they say they only by coffee that is "sustainably" grown, meaning no chemicals were used.

Emily49 5/21/2020, 11:34 am

bgardner wrote:One of the composts that I use is called Zoo Brew, a collection of poo and litter from the Columbus Zoo that is composted with horse manure, recycled food & vegetables, leaf humus, and coffee grounds. It's a lot easier than taking a 5-gallon bucket to the circus.

Brian

What a great fund raiser for the zoo! I wonder if all zoos do this.

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what do you put in the compost that other may not of thought of?