From Chris Osman
Aberdeen
With respect, Dan Cogan does not know what he is talking about
(Feedback, 6 December).
In my experience, a backyard compost heap can happily swallow up anything
organic, and produce beautiful well-structured, sweet-smelling compost. I have
put in meat, bones, egg-shells, mussel shells, woody garden clippings . . . the
lot.
It is easy to construct a robust wooden bin that totally excludes dogs, rats
and other animals. On rare occasions I have had mice, but the cat has
effortlessly dispatched them.
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In the system I use, I add whatever is available at the time of year. Roughly
once a year, I take out the top, incompletely digested layer and sieve the
remainder. The sieved material is ready-to-use compost. Bones and whatever else
is left in the sieve goes back in the bin to start the next batch.
I have one extra holding bin for garden cuttings, from which a portion is
taken as needed to add to the compost bin (somewhat more in volume than the
kitchen scraps).
The meat disappears without trace over the year; hard material takes longer,
but so what?
