i built a compost bin out of free pallets from the neighborhood and compost my household’s food waste as well as yard waste from family members. i also follow the lazy compost “method” of collecting kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, and etc and adding them to my pile. my in-laws regularly contribute lawnmowing scraps and leaves. i look forward to really putting it to work in the spring!

as for me, i live in Western Colorado, USA - in the high desert. we get a ton of direct sunlight, it’s really hot in the summer and can get really cold in the winter - USDA hardiness zone 6b/7a. it is also a very arid land.

my setup is super basic, as lazy as it gets. i use a pallet compost bin that i made out of free pallets i got from the neighborhood, pretty much as shown in this link. we keep our kitchen scraps and i add to the pile generally once a week. we also add yard waste of our own, and that of friends and family and neighbors occasionally. i water the pile irregularly as i am extremely lazy, but i do have a water barrel set up nearby that, in the future, i will use to drip irrigate the pile, but that’s a next spring project now. something for future Andy; we hate that guy! ha.

we also are using chopped up leaf mulch as compost on a part of our back yard that we are turning from a dirt patch into a garden. this is sort of a compost-in-place situation, or a lasagna mulching situation. it’s not amazing, but it works; i grew potatoes in a wood chip mulch this year, so i am hopeful it will work next year.

i check in here pretty regularly but am largely a lurker; if that’s okay, i could take on moderating c/composting. i’m no expert but i am an enthusiastic amateur…