If you’re interested in composting but you’ve never done it before, please come to the next monthly meeting to learn more. Becoming a Garden Member entitles you to access to our composting bins.

If you’re currently composting with us, please remember the following Composting Rules:

1. Make all drop-offs only into the bin marked OPEN at the back of the garden.
2. Chop your kitchen scraps into three-inch dice and cut your flowers or weeds into pieces that are no longer than six inches.
3. Always cover fresh materials with “browns” — sawdust, wood chips, or dried leaves — which are available in nearby drums.
4. Follow the rules on what can and can’t be composted. Rules are clearly posted near the composting bins.
5. Take your plastic bags and disposable containers out of the garden after a drop-off. The garden is not equipped to handle trash.
6. NEVER leave compost near the gate or the curb. Garden volunteers cannot be responsible for other people’s mess.

Why the rules?

Prospect Heights Community Farm is one of only a few remaining on-site food composting facilities in Brooklyn. We accept food scraps at no cost, with no membership requirements, no external funding, and use substantial amounts of all-volunteer labor to produce a finished compost product that stays right here in Brooklyn.

The facility is under the watchful eye of the NYC Dept. of Health and discerning noses of our surrounding neighbors and could be shut down at any time if we are found to cause a nuisance with odors or vermin.

If we break the rules and lose access to local composting, we’ll have nobody to blame but ourselves. Repeat offenders of the following basic rules will lose composting privileges.

STOP & CHOP: NO WHOLE VEGETABLES OF ANY KIND!

Potatoes that go into compost looking like potatoes come out looking like potatoes (and smelling a whole lot worse). So do lemons…and grapefruits…and kiwis…and onions…and eggplants….and carrots…and peppers…and loaves of bread…and (well, you get the idea). Anyone found leaving whole vegetables will be asked to remove them from the bin and thoroughly chop them before being allowed to return the contents to the bin.

At a minimum, fruits & vegetables should be reduced to one quarter of their original size (a half grapefruit doesn’t fare much better than a whole one). This is hard to achieve using the chopping tools on site, so please chop at home as you add material to your scrap bucket.

COVER ME: LEAVE NO FOOD SCRAPS EXPOSED!

After you’ve emptied your (chopped) scraps into the bin, mix the scraps with the existing materials before you fully cover them with an equal amount of browns.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to compost your kitchen waste. Composting makes a difference, but only if it’s done right. We are always in need of help. It’s a rewarding endeavor and great exercise. "[1] 

1.  Prospect Heights Community Farm. <http://www.phcfarm.com/welcome/gardening-info/composting/> Accessed 8.22.11