Mid Winter Compost Tip

Here is a compost trick:

If you throw whole eggshells into your compost heap you are likely to get small pieces of egg shells in the finished compost: not ideal.  Manually crushing up your eggshells before you throw them into your compost pile will help them break down faster and more completely.  See the following pictures:

I save a bunch of old egg shells in the fridge and grind them all at once.  

I lay all of the eggshells in a cookie sheet and then dry them, one of a few ways. You can bake them in the oven at 170 degrees for an hour or so.  In the summer you can just put them in direct sunlight on a hot day.  I have also seen people put their egg shells over the grill on a long day of cooking to let the waste heat dry them out.  The goal is to simply dry out the eggshells and make them brittle.  However you achieve this will be fine.  *Be sure to keep your work station clean when handling wet egg shells so you don't accidentally spread or ingest harmful bacteria.  Wash your hands and materials well*    

I use a large mason jar to crush the egg shells.  The dry shells should break easily.  

Crush, crush, crush!

It only takes a minute to crush up all of the eggs.  

I will stick the crushed up egg shells in the fridge and await spring.  It is best to incorporate these nutrient rich food items directly into active compost.  I am afraid that if I throw the eggshells in my half frozen compost now, the rain and snow will wash them away.  

It is mid January, which means we have another two months or so before 'compost season' opens.   Even in winter you can be improving your compost skills and planning for next spring – make sure you are saving the ash from your fire place and eggshells from breakfast!

   

Interestingly, the same thing can be done to your eggshells if you want to feed them to your backyard chickens.  If you crush up your eggshells really well, you can add them to your chicken feed and recycle the calcium.  Recycling = Living Lighter on the Land