Time to Tumble! (Week one)

 I read up on what I’d be allowed to put in the JK 270, and was impressed with how much of a variety of things I’d be able to put in there! Niklas told me, “Basically, anything you could put in your mouth, you can put in the tumbler.” Of course, there is much more than just that that can go in there, but it was a good rule of thumb. You can even put garden waste in there, but not too much at a time, since you want to be able to fill it up mainly with waste from your kitchen that can be broken down. I was told that hard sticks and twigs shouldn’t be added to the tumbler. The website has a detailed list of what to and what not to add to your tumbler, plus tips well worth looking at.

I had a little trouble finding wood pellets (which they say is the best thing to mix in with your kitchen/ garden waste)in the beginning, but did find them for a good price at the local feed store. I searched ”Feed Store” on Google and found a place that sold 40 lbs. of wood pellets for 13 dollars including tax. I don’t have cats, but apparently, there are places in which you can buy a certain type of wood pellets used for cat litter and that can also be disposed of in the compost tumbler (Sand-like cat litter cannot be put in there). They say you can also use sawdust instead of wood pellets, but I haven’t tried that yet.

I’ve got a medium-sized coffee can with a lid under my sink to fill the kitchen waste in and I dump the waste into the JK 270 every couple of days. Every time I add waste to the tumbler, I rotate it.  So far, I have mostly coffee grinds, banana peels, egg shells and some scraps not eaten off dinner plates in the tumbler. Niklas told me that every time I fill it up, I should put in some wood pellets (the ratio should be 10:1, waste to pellets). By the way, I have only begun filling up the first chamber.

So far, so good!