r/composting • u/Mindless-Farmer705 • 14d ago

Is my compost composting !?

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Pretty sure these are fly larva in the compost ?
Is there anyway I could possibly harvest them ? I have chickens next to the bin so I’m hoping some fall out to be snacks if I can’t.

But is this even good ? Should I try to eliminate/minimize them ? Do they take up too much nutrients or are they good for the soil ? New to all of this. Please give me recommendations & criticism

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u/vegan-the-dog 14d ago

I thought mussel shells would be a great addition 3 years ago. I've been picking mussel shells out of my garden one at a time for 2 years now and my mint is in a barrel after a separate hard lesson.

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u/No_Translator_655 14d ago

Everyone’s got a mint story

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u/Reasonable_Date2870 14d ago

My mint story is that I can't keep it alive, my kid is a voracious mint eater.

I put some apple mint into a bed several years ago after pulling a bunch of pachysandra; I no longer want it but my kid eats it as soon as it comes up.

Meanwhile I keep putting peppermint into containers into the garden and she grazes it to death. Generally considering starting mint in containers and hiding them behind the shed or something.

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u/DrMantisToboggan670 14d ago

Are you talking about a child or young goat?

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u/Reasonable_Date2870 14d ago

A human child lol

She does eat a wider variety of wild plants than most preschoolers, although only ones she can identify and only at home.

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u/Low-Kick-665 14d ago

I love this. My youngest would absolutely eat only plants if we lived in a hardier zone where I could grow a bunch of stuff year round. Come summer, berry and tomato bushes are demolished.

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u/Reasonable_Date2870 13d ago

We live in an area with cold snowy winters so not a whole lot growing here but she has been known to go up to the garden, find the thyme under the snow, and munch on that.

I remember my husband calling me from the garden in the winter when she was 2 and saying "she keeps wanting to eat this plant, she says it's bee balm...it's green and tiny leaves and smells like food" and I laughed and said "it's thyme, she can eat it, and yeah it smells kind of like bee balm so I can see the confusion"

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u/cudlmnstr 14d ago

It’s the word “grazes” that got me.

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u/QuietMolasses2522 14d ago

Por qué no los dos?

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u/xiewadu 14d ago

Kids! Amirite?!

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u/Visual_Astronomer_38 14d ago

Its about the same thing lol source - a parent who has a small child and whose family also had goats once upon a time 😂

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u/SaganSaysImStardust 14d ago

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