Green materials in January

Thermophilic composting is the practice of breaking down biological waste with heat-loving bacteria.
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TomF
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Where are good sources fo Green for a winter compost pile? I use Bokashi for my domestic food scraps, I store fall leaves for mulch and compost in the spring and also build up woody debris from the branches that fall and are primed in the winter for chipping for paths and composting. My yard just does not produce a lot of green waste. I will be grabbing some "clean up" materials from a neighbour that just removed all the lovely ground cover two months too early IMO. I think that it will be poor green and more brown as it is fall materials where the greens have been converted to higher carbon ration as the plants prepare for the dormant season. I do use coffee grounds in my compost from local coffee shops but it needs to be used in conjunction with larger plant materials or the fine materials will compact more easily and your pile can go anaerobic.

I know hay can be used but you want to be sure no herbicides have been used as that will negatively impact your compost so ideally it is a organic and from a high diversity of pasture plants. Does anyone know where you can get local organic hay?

I am also leery of local horse manure as that can be polluted with dewormers, and the food sources the horses are fed may have high salts etc. and the bedding materials can also have high herbicides in it. I have not talked to some of the local stables here so maybe Wirth an investigation and a trial.
PeasIntheRain
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I'm struggling with this too. We have a small household (...and maybe we swing too far to avoiding food waste? We don't make nearly the food scrap piles that others seem to do). The pile is never green enough, especially in winter.

I've just arranged with a friend to pick up their kitchen scraps, which will help. For this to work long-term, it's going to have to be easy and 'nice' for them: so frequent pick-ups and/or freezing their scraps so they don't have to deal with a smelly bucket in the kitchen or something. It involved the slight discomfort of being the weird compost person, but I started by talking about garden prep and offering to share compost for their new garden, suggesting we could build a healthy compost pile together.

I've heard of people in cities asking local restaurants for scraps, or going to a street market at the end of the day to ask for the cuttings (e.g. the carrot tops or cauliflower leaves trimmed for those customers who didn't want them on). Maybe that's an option where you are?

Would love to hear other ideas because the compost limitation has been a big barrier to restoring our degraded soil.
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CoastRichard
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Anyone composted with spent brewery grains as high nitrogen source?
Understand want to ask brewery what sugars - to avoid funny stuff like corn glutin and HCFS
TomF
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CoastRichard wrote: Wed 19-Jan-2022, 21:51 Anyone composted with spent brewery grains as high nitrogen source?
Understand want to ask brewery what sugars - to avoid funny stuff like corn glutin and HCFS
I have been getting spent brewer grain for my compost piles from Deep Cove Brewers and Distilleries which is really close to where I work. They just have it outside in bins, free for the taking. I usually try to plan for a fresh batch as any High N and greens will start the bacterial party right away and start to consume the N before you have a chance to get it into your pile. I have not asked about HCFS. What impact will corn gluten have? the biology in a good thermophilic compost (if that is what you want to do) should take care of any of that.

If stockpiling kitchen scraps, best to freeze them so they don't lose N by starting to break down before you are ready. I don't have room for that in our freezer so have been stockpiling with Bokashi. Still trying to see how it works in thermophillic compost as it is very wet and also lots of anaerobic bacteria which means you have to really break up the clumps well and aerate when mixing your compost recipe. Also you must be sure you have some dry materials to suck up all that moisture targeting a 50% moisture content in your pile.
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Andrew
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Planning is your best best, by bokashi composting green waste through the winter you have what you need to get piles started. Bokashi results in zero greenhouse gas emissions so you won't lose any N like just leaving greens sitting around.

Coffee grounds from Starbucks are free (grounds for your garden) and make a suitable green for starting a pile.
Collecting your own urine (before you have caffeine) might sound gross but its a free way to get piles going.
Brewery waste is another great source.
Manures can be found but I find it almost impossible to find good quality manure that is free from dewormers and other antibiotics etc.. as well as their feed stock may also be of questionable origin.

In collecting materials from breweries and coffee shops etc.. and the like you will need to ask questions about the origins and be prepared for it not to be organic. At the end of the day, composting can remediate a lot of issues if given enough time but its IDEAL to find clean stuff, I think the peace of mind is worth the effort.
Jason
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I’ve been using grass clipping from around my farm plot. It’s also funny to see the looks on folks faces when they see me cutting the grass in the middle of winter. 😂 Charles Dowding uses weeds which are never short in supply. He says that the temperatures kill any seeds.
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