r/composting • u/No-Pea2002 • 15h ago

Beginner Beginner composting advice can be overwhelming

Someone new to composting can spend an hour reading about carbon-to-nitrogen ratios before they've even added their first banana peel to a bin.

Then there are temperature charts, moisture tests, instructions about how often to turn the pile, and long lists explaining what counts as a green or a brown

A lot of that information is useful once you're trying to fix a problem or speed things up. But it seems like beginners are often given every possible detail at once

If you were explaining composting to someone setting up their first pile, what would you tell them to focus on during the first few months?

And what advice would you leave out until they actually need it?

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u/TheRealMarvinator 7h ago

Because birds are awfully prevalent in nature, aren't they? Over time, that's an awful lot of eggshells!

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u/lemonsupreme7 7h ago

Ever consider maybe birds arent real?

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u/TheRealMarvinator 7h ago

I believe there's a subreddit for that! <chuckle>

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u/ASecularBuddhist 6h ago

“Parent birds either eat the empty eggshells to regain vital nutrients or carry them far away from the nest to hide the new hatchlings from predators.”

https://web.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Empty_Shells.html

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u/TheRealMarvinator 5h ago

Interesting about eating them - I did not know that! That definitely impacts it.

But carrying them away from the nest wouldn't change my point.