"Pennyaline" wrote in message
FarmI wrote:
"Pennyaline" wrote in message
SteveB wrote:

snip the shit for crying out loud

Has anyone gotten around to telling you not to use cooked or dressed
food scraps in your compost pile? Raw foods only, vegetable matter only,
no meat, no fats, no salad dressings, etc.

Why not? I've composted lots of things including lots of cooked food and
also a dead chook (chicken in US speak) and had no problems at all.
Someone I know swears that fat is a real worm attractant and that worms
writhe and gorge themselves on fat from a commercial frying machine.
Can't see it myself but he swears that it's true.

I have no doubt that worms writhe around in fats since they writhe around
in everything, but to my knowledge they do not consume it.

I wouldn't have thought they would either but the person I know who has told
me about the fat, swears that they do eat it and that they also multipy on
it. I still can't see it myself, but since I'm not prepared to put a huge
commercial fryer load of fat into my compost, I really don't have the
experience to dismiss it.

It
compromises the compost to add meat and fats, as these don't break down at
the same rate as vegetable matter and will spoil the end product in its
entirety. It also attracts competing insects which can crowd out a worm
colony and defeat the purpose of the whole thing.

I guess adding too much meat could do that but I know that having composted
a chook (chicken) certainly didn't spoil the final product. I didn't get
any untoward visitors either at that time. I now have had mice move into my
closed bins but I've decided that the mice are a good thing to have - they
seem to do a great job of turning stuff in my closed bins. In fact, I'm so
impressed with the mice activity that I do nothing to stop them.