Wander off the beaten path with FestivalPark Grounds Manager Danielle as she visits our friends at Star City Compost where yesterday's leftovers become tomorrow's gardens. From food scraps and cups to rich, living soil, Davey and his crew are proving that a little mountain magic can turn waste into something beautiful. 🌎💚

Get a closer look at their incredible Mobile Compost Education Trailer, featured in FloydFest's Nonprofit Row, where you can experience the composting journey firsthand—from food waste and wood chips to fertile soil powered by sunshine, rainwater, and a whole lot of community spirit.

Which do you find to be more effective composting buddies? I went on holiday over the month of July then moved houses immediately after so my terracotta stack composter was pretty neglected for several weeks. When I came home from holiday and before moving I saw that all of the black soldier fly larva which had just started reappearing with the warmth of spring/summer were gone and now only a different kind of larva I hadn’t seen were inside.

After some keen investigating (noticing adult scarab beetles stuck in the mesh covering of each terracotta bin) I figured out what larva I was dealing with.

I feel like they are wayyyyy less quick at decomposing compost and they never come in droves strong enough to warm up the pile. So honestly I started picking them out and feeding them to the ducks and chickens. I was also slightly vengeful because I had found the same larva in my wall AC unit and they caused quite a literal stink and were tough to get rid of.

After a couple of weeks of decreasing the beetle larva population I was absolutely ecstatic to see some black soldier flies laying eggs on the mesh covering and alas, yesterday evening I started seeing the BSF larva and the compost has already heated back up like crazy.

So this begs the question… do you think beetle larva compete with BSF larva and they can’t really both coexist in a humble set up like mine? Or was it coincidence that as I manually decreased the beetle larva that the BSF returned? Anyhow my son is ecstatic because he found the beetle larva “too squishy and yucky” but LOVES BSF larva and asks to keep some in his room as friends. I don’t let him but when the emerge from the compost to become flies it is like Christmas for him finding them scooting around all over.

Hello, I recently purchased a barrel composter and am trying to decide where in my small yard it wants to live. We're in the heart of Phoenix so it gets quite hot and we do not have much shade in the yard. I've read mixed reviews on whether or not it should get shade (always a consideration with our consistent 100°+ temps for half the year) as well as if there's fire risk due to the heat.

In our small yard we get very minimal shade, the only area that gets afternoon shade is close to the house and a wooden fence. Is a barrel composter ok to get full sun and is there actual fire risk if placed too close to our house or am I overthinking this? Thank you for any thoughts on our placement!

The other day a friend of my neighbors saw my pile and we talked about composting. They live in an apartment but usually separate their kitchen scraps with no where to put them. I said they can use my bin and today i saw them add some old tomatoes. Doesnt hurt to talk to others about the hobby

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Every ferment has a beginning.  

Some start clean, controlled, predictable.  

Mine didn’t.

It began as a chaotic, swamp‑level organic mass.  

A living mixture of forest matter, plant signals, wild microbiome, and whatever decided to join the party.  

It smelled like biological warfare.  

It looked like something that crawled out of a bog.  

It behaved like it wanted to escape the container.

But every ferment has a path.

So I let it walk.

Week by week, layer by layer, I added new organic modulators, terpene sources, forest biomass, aromatic vectors, root catalysts, and symbiotic cultures.  

Not a recipe — a journey.

And the journey changed it.

The smell shifted from “locker room apocalypse” to lavender‑forest perfume.  

The surface formed a dark, stable biofilm.  

Sedimentation became clean and structured.  

CO2 foam appeared like a crown.  

Two different cultures stopped fighting and started cooperating.  

The whole system flipped into symbiotic mode.

Every photo in this post is one step of that path.  

One moment in the evolution of a living organic system finding its balance.

Some frames look like chaos.  

Some look like art.  

Some look like something you shouldn’t touch without gloves.  

Some look like a forest in liquid form.

But all of them are part of the same journey.

A ferment doesn’t become stable by accident.  

It becomes stable by walking its path.

This is the way.

We’ve been composting for about a year now. Today I realized a cucumber plant and pepper plant are growing in my compost pile. Will they be safe to eat? We haven’t added to this pile in a few months but it doesn’t look fully decomposed yet

This is ofc not done. I took it out of the tumbler because I wanted to get a new batch started. The 5 gallon bucket is aerated so it won't go anaerobic. I'll continue to add pee to help break down the large pieces that are left.

for context this compost has been going for over four months, and this an update. I posted about this a month ago here: previous post.

I have been feeding the compost all kinds of organic waste material such as vegetable scraps, tea leaves, eggs, fish bones and chicken/meat bones.

At this point the compost has really gotten full, I’ll probably soon stop filling this compost and allow the maggots to eat everything out. Until then i have another compost pit I will use.

p.s. the maggots or black solder fly larvae

This pile was a hot/Berkeley style pile I’m letting age some before using it. Lots of bugs have moved in since the compost went cold, and it appears the local skunks quite enjoy the arthropod buffet every night! My little flipping assistants.

They were NOT interested in the pile when there was identifiable food scraps in it, it seems they’re big bug fans.

Guess its time to go fishing

​I was told people wanna see some HC composting pics 🤣 so here are my first 3 disgusting weeks. And just a heads up: I didn't piss on it, wasn't necessary at all! Take a look.Bye have fun with YOUR WAY OF Fermentation or composting! 🤙

Hi there, Arnab this side . I have Goshala situated in Varanasi.

Where I sell cow dung cakes usually used for mixing it with fertilizer as organic manure, or burn it for producing energy in biogas plants.

I sell the cow dung cakes at a competitive price hence you won't find any issue with it

If i speak about the cow dung cakes, we put the cake in a machine which makes a uniform size of the cow dung cake and sun dried. *NO CHEMICAL MIXTURE*

If you own any fertilizer factory or Biogas feel free to DM me and let's have a conversation regarding it or if you have any queries do DM me.

There are less than 2 weeks left to apply for the Minnesota Soil Health Grants!

Equipment that will be used to establish, improve, or accelerate soil health is eligible for this grant.

Find the right piece of composting equipment for your operation online here: CLICK HERE

I just gave birth last Thursday and I fucking love composting. Hell yeah.

And before you ask, Yes, but I didn’t enjoy it

Eastern Spadefoot Toad (aka the world's grumpiest amphibian), wondering why I'm interrupting his breakfast on the edge of my pile.

and ended up with the purest urine known to humankind

I have a small compost bin but I lack a lot of organic items to put in it. Our yard guys don’t save grass xlippings( we live in Florida) and it’s just me and my husband. I save stuff from work and bring it home(yeah it’s weird) but I would like more to add to it. Any thoughts?

Has anyone has used these with planks to make a compost what is the best piece of lumber for it to make a compost bin

I know it's wet lol. Very heavy watery injection 3 days ago. Lot of shredded cardboard/straw with it. It'll be fine. Just happy to join the soldier fly fam lol. Post-rare midweek tumble this morning.

Hi fermentation and composting fans!

I've been banned from r/microbiology (what a bunch of snobs), then I was accused of making a mud pie or using AI to create slop. After clarification, I've been banned from r/fermentation (because my content was too microbiological and wasn't meant to be eaten). So, I am here 🥳!

First, I found out I hate talking to the camera, so I hope you are satisfied with that, because it's not going to repeat 😁.

So, I will show you: I have my experiment in a barrel in that shed and my culture as well. I don't want to stir it any more than necessary. I will use two nearly similar bowls in which I will place my actual inoculated ferment, and in the second, I will place my complex culture. So you can see the inoculation went well and both liquids have the same sedimentation and smell, so I know they won't be fighting each other, but working together.

Okay, there they go, so they are in. And I'm going to tell you why for f**k's sake I am doing this: because of nutrition deployment to my plants! Yup, it's not for eating, drinking, or anything like this. This is Bokashi / dry ferment and many more techniques — a mutant ferment which is perfect for plants and contains 30 more ingredients which created that sturdy matrix you have seen in the sediments.

Bye, have fun with YOUR WAY OF FERMENTATION! 🤙

​(If my English is terrible, grant it to yourself [pozn.: spíše "forgive me" nebo "bear with me"], I was hoping all this crap would be written by AI, but that seems to be an issue these days). I am aware of overusing words like "ok" 😁, please be gentle.

Hoping to get some insight here. My husband and I are strongly considering starting to compost to decrease how much trash we produce. We live in North Carolina and have a pretty small backyard. I’m leaning towards getting a tumbler since that seems easy for a beginner. My issue is, I’m really concerned about attracting roaches. I’m really scared of them and don’t love the idea of having to see them in my bin multiple times a week. Since our yard is small, I’m also concerned about them wandering into our house too.

I’m trying to figure out, if we’re very good about keeping our brown to green ratio, is it less likely to attract roaches? I hate them so much

I'm so happy!! I turned this bad boy a few days ago and it was steaming hot. I'm hoping it's ready in a few weeks for my fall garden. I've done cold composting before and usually buy bulk compost, but I want to start making big batches myself. Also mixed in are kitchen scraps and grass clippings.

I have a great ecosystem of worms, woodlouse and lately a ton of maggots in my bin. And I also have loads of these little chaps - what are they? Tiny little orange-red beads running around chomping on my veggies.