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We use a pretty ceramic bowl and (usually) empty it once a day. I've tried all manner of lidded containers and found we attracted ants no matter what. Also, lidding it makes it stink, IMO.
I have a friend who has one of those containers made specifically for compost but she still gets ants, too. With the bowl, we are pretty much forced to empty it daily which keeps the ants away. We don't have problems with flies, though.
Oh, I forgot...I guess it's about a 12 C capacity bowl?
__________________ ~Wendy~mama to three littles...Conrad (13) Noah (11) Finn (5)
Location: firmly planted in the postmodern pastoral economy
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Thanks! Just trying to get an idea. We'll definitely empty ours daily. But with the flies we have - ugh, the flies are just AWFUL and we have a very clean house...I'm afraid of how bad they will be with open compost around. I don't know why or how to get rid of them, either.
I have a mini stainless trashcan (about 2 qt size) with a flip lid and removable inner for dumping that I got at a discount housewares store. But the best thing I ever learned from a crunchy friend was to put that inner liner in the freezer during the spring, summer and fall months while filling it with compostable stuff. No more flies or fruitflies. Dump in right into the compost frozen.
Location: firmly planted in the postmodern pastoral economy
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Ah! Great idea! I had one of those little trashcans, too...I got it inside a big one at one point, for $10 at Staples. I dunno whether it made it up here or not. Hm.
But the freezing is truly a stroke of genius! Great esp since we have plenty of freezer room now. (Having just moved here.)
wow, I was coming to post what we use, but the freezer is SUCH a great idea! Even with my container w/filter and all, I still get little fruit flies- drives me crazy.
I am cleaning out the freezer this weekend and putting the container in there! thanks!
__________________
Laura, mama to Abel, age 9!
~my 2 favorite boys~
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
Okay, I got nothing that tops the freezer idea, I admit that. I will however share that even when I've got flies in the house they don't seem to care about my compost. I mostly use brown paper bags, the kind that they stick wine bottles in and stuff. I stick it on the counter for a day or two and then the whole thing, bag and all, goes on the compost heap. I hate washing compost containers. When we run out of small paper bags I use the styrofoam tubs that our mushrooms come. Those can last a couple of weeks since I dump them out and reuse them until they get gross and then I toss them. Then during that couple of weeks we usually replenish our paper bag stash. So it's not as good an idea as the freezer but I am so happy that I'm not washing a compost crock anymore. It's disposable, but it's reusing too, so it evens out for me.
__________________ Mama to Miss Divatude 7 and Mudpie 5
We use an empty 5 gal ice cream pail but I never tried lidding cuz I lost the lid, LOL! We get fruit flies (also true with the tomatoes we bring in from the garden) and we empty every day or every other day. Freezer sounds great if we had more space. Maybe when we buy a chest freezer!
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Candace: Mama to Mollusc, Sluggie, Fishy, and the homebirthed Prawn!
P0F4X0
Location: firmly planted in the postmodern pastoral economy
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Thanks for sharing what you do everyone!
Ok, here is my plan. This house came with hundreds of brown paper bags...
And the flies we have now are cluster flies, not fruit flies, but I'm sure they can still breed in compost. They are bad enough. I can't wait for it to freeze and for them to DIE. I talked w/locals and the only things we can do we are already doing: flypaper, swat them, and when needed, spray areas down with antifly EOs - like before I cut food I will spray the kitchen area down so they stay away for 10 minutes. I have also been spraying them to confuse and slow them, then swatting or vacuuming. Ugh.
Anyway back to compost. I think I am going to combine ideas. I am going to use my now-empty ceramic flour container with lid, and line it with a paper bag, and put the compost in that - in the freezer! Then hopefully the bag will come out of the container without ripping/sticking when full, and I can dump it in the compost pile.
I'll report back once I get the flour container unpacked!
Anyway back to compost. I think I am going to combine ideas. I am going to use my now-empty ceramic flour container with lid, and line it with a paper bag, and put the compost in that - in the freezer! Then hopefully the bag will come out of the container without ripping/sticking when full, and I can dump it in the compost pile.
I'll report back once I get the flour container unpacked!
I got a bucket, I think it is supposed to be a wine bucket or a picnic bucket...it is wood exterior with a tight fitting lid and handle, and the interior is aluminum.
Unless I open it to throw in scraps, it has NO SMELL AT ALL. I have fruit flies/fungus gnats in my house too, and they don't get near it.
I also clean my kitchen counters with vinegar and peppermint soap (usually a spray bottle of vinegar and dr.bronner's pep soap with water to fill it).
I have a five gallon bucket outside my kitchen door with a lid and when the counter top bucket gets full, I dump it in the five gallon bucket and when THAT gets full, I dump it on the compost pile.
Sounds like a PIA but thsi works well for my small family of 3.
The counter bucket is very nice looking and only cost me a few dollars.
I admit that I don't compost at all when it's below freezing. I know that whatever I put out there would just sit and not decompose until spring thaw anyway. Any thoughts on that? Or am I just a lazy, fair-weather composter?
Location: firmly planted in the postmodern pastoral economy
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Well...Tara, if you don't compost it, what do you do with it? Send it to landfill?
Here, we have to pay $3 per bag to dispose of garbage. So uh, I don't care if it sits till spring. LOL. I'd rather do that than have to pay to dispose of it.
So I guess my thought would be, eventually it will compost, isn't that better than it going to the landfill?
I tried the crock in the freezer yesterday. Everything stuck to the inside of the crock when I tried to dump it. It's out there thawing now but I won't be able to do that for much longer.
~Wendy~
Mama to Miss Divatude 7 and Mudpie 5
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