Composting is so damn easy, why doesn't everybody do it?

I love composting.  I mean I really love composting.  Any part of the composting process makes me so deeply happy, it's perhaps strange to most people.  I find composting so satisfying on so many levels.  I don't put out all sorts of yard waste, I don't toss my food scraps in the trash, and I don't dump all kinds of crap in the garbage disposal.  And then, I get this amazing, sweet smelling happy soil to feed my lovely plants.  It's such a win-win.  And it is so damn easy.

Some people are very fancy about their composting, and have a tumbler.  I don't have a tumbler, but after years and years of consideration, I decided to order one, so I can use it to finish off nearly finished-compost.  Aaaaand, it's been re-backordered, this time until June.  But hey, I don't need it.  Right now I have 5 compost bins, and am planning to add another this summer, and then with the tumbler I'll have 7.  I think that'll be perfect.

I have one black cylinder for food scraps (being a vegetarian means I easily have more scraps to offer the bin), one black bin for weeds, and then the rest are very simple constructions of wood and hardware cloth.  I'll probably re-build them with more wood so they're sturdier, when I find the time.  I'm not opposed to wood-working, in fact I really enjoy it (I built all 7 of my raised garden beds) but I felt like doing my compost bins super-easy and super-cheap.  Of course, my Dad's compost "bin" is even easier, and cheaper: it's a big pile behind his backyard shed.  That's composting "rural-style."

my compost pail

I've found a few things to be essential for successful composting:  a compost pail to gather food scraps in the kitchen, a pitchfork, a sifter, 5-gallon buckets with lids, and a leaf shredder.  Sticking to the super-easy, super-cheap method, I have a frame made of wood and hardware cloth that spends most of its time as the front side of a bin (as in my photo above).  Then when the compost is pretty-much finished, I put the frame over my wheel barrow (it's a near perfect fit) and sift out any sticks from the soil.  Then I put the compost into buckets with lids to cure.

I really wish more people would compost.  It really can be very easily done.  Those compost tumblers, particularly the ones with 2 separate compartments, are super easy for anybody.  I actually like turning over the piles -- just did that this weekend with my two biggest bins -- but I understand that I may well be the exception in that.

I also love community and business composting.  There's a small, but hopefully rapidly growing compost program here for some of the area businesses.  Dare I hope for a day when composting is as common as recycling?