DIY Composting: How to Transform Your Kitchen Waste into Fertilizer

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Almost a year ago, I searched the internet for an affordable composting unit that I could put on my kitchen counter. My quest to find something that I could transform my kitchen scraps into valuable fertilizer was relentless.

The Answer to My Prayers

My time spent on this quest took up about 30 minutes a day. It was almost impossible to find something here in the states that didn’t break the budget. That is until I rediscovered kickstarter.com. There I found the Lomi which was quite pricey, but more reasonable than anything else I found. I also wanted to purchase from a business close to home. This unit is made in Canada. The hype prompted me to make the purchase. I waited approximately 2 months for it to arrive.

In the beginning, I was using it 2-3 times a week. It did what it was supposed to do, composted everything. Would not recommend putting meat, fat, or banana peelings in it. Not thinking about the possibility of the unit jamming, I put in whole banana peelings, meat, and fat scraps all at the same time. After my Lomi went through most of the process, the paddle got stuck and there was a loud grinding noise.

The unit mimics a bread maker with a paddle at the bottom of the pull-out removable bucket. The paddle is not removable which is how I rendered my unit useless. The composted banana peelings and meat shavings wrapped themselves around the paddle.

Hoping I could get some assistance, I contacted the company. They had no answers and they don’t sell the inside bucket with the paddle separately. I had invested $499 in this product and wasn’t going to give up. I tried soaking and cutting out the dried mess, followed by resoaking and cutting multiple times before I could free the jam. I thought I had broken it for good, but as it turns out I was able to put it to use after that.

The other things they don’t tell you about is the smell and the noise while it is composting. The compost does not look like soil as shown in the advertisements. My husband would cringe every time I’d use it. So, there it sits on a shelf until I decide what to do with it.

Creative Composting Alternatives You May Already Own

This year, I thought I’d try dehydrating my vegetable scraps, egg shells, and peelings from bananas, oranges, apples, and anything else I can think of with my Emeril Lagasse Counter Top Stove. Purchased this unit for $99 at Kohls. The result is amazing and I could have saved myself $499. It’s the same concept only the dried compost isn’t burnt and can easily be ground down into a powder form using a basic blender as shown here.

Homemade Fertilizer Result 2

The results are outstanding! The aroma from the fruit peelings is quite pleasant. Almost like Potpourri.

Another alternative. Over the summer, I dehydrated tomatoes, potatoes, fruit, etc., in my Cosori Dehydrator, but it didn’t occur me that this would be a great solution for scraps. So, if you have countertop stove with a dehydrator setting or a dehydrator in your household, give it a try.

The cost of fertilizer is getting more expensive, and for what I spent on the Lomi, I could have purchased two Emeril LaGasse Countertop Stoves and two Cosori Dehydrators.

Thank you for visiting, I hope you found this information useful.