Hello there! I hope you’ve been enjoying my journey through kitchen composting (exciting, I know, but a journey nonetheless)! Last week I wrote about figuring out what actually constitutes compost. This week, things get a little – smelly.

As I said before, I cleaned out my fridge with gusto as I got the composter ready. The directions recommended to initially fill the composter’s mixing chamber halfway, to allow for mixing as well as allowing the machine to warm up so it can effectively do its job. The NatureMill composter uses a “hot composting” method to break down food materials. It combines heat, air flow, moisture and mixing every four hours to basically neutralize foods and turn it into compost. Here’s a handy diagram** to see how the machine works – neat, huh? As food and brown matter breaks down, much of it is converted to water vapor, while what’s left is super-concentrated and rich in minerals. When the upper chamber of the machine is full, you transfer it to the lower “curing” tray, where it dries further for about two weeks before use in the garden.

It’s a fairly simple process, and of course the machine is doing all the work. What takes practice is balancing the foods so you have a balanced compost. This is where we had some problems, or as my five year old daughter kept asking, “why is that thing so stinky?”

NatureMill describes the ideal smell of your compost cultures to be a “mild aroma, similar to sourdough, mushrooms or damp straw.” During the initial set-up, the directions ask you to fill the machine and let it run for one week without opening the top chamber. That worked well for about four days, until the “aroma” turned into an “odor” and then an all-out “stinkfest.” Ever mistakenly leave a bologna sandwich at the back of your fridge for a year, or lose a bottle full of milk in a crevice of your car in the middle of the summer in Florida? It was THAT BAD. I ignored it for a day, thinking this was part of the process and it would eventually go away. Instead, the smell got stronger, we burned incense over the composter all day, and I imagined never being able to have people over ever again. I had to do the unthinkable. I OPENED the machine.

Oh. My. Goodness. I didn’t know if what I was looking at was normal, but this wet, almost gooey mess of compost was not doing right by me. In the end, it was my husband who saved the day. “All it needs is more sawdust and baking soda,” he explained. Oh, is that ALL? What about a “toxic waste” warning sticker on the outside? We poured the sawdust in and dumped almost an entire box of baking soda on top of the compost and waited. Would the smell go away instantaneously, or would we be tortured for another week? I really did not want to unplug the machine and give up on composting.

It took a day or two, but the smell finally dissipated and we allowed guests back in. Now I’m super careful about how much green vs. brown matter I’m putting in the machine, and I add sawdust and baking soda once a week or so, just to be safe. The organic, mushroomy smell is not ideal, but no one ever said compost would smell like roses, did they?

Next week: Our first batch of compost!

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