Sallymander's blog: Composting

I compost continuous and continuously, I doubt my efforts. This is due to my wrestling with composting what is available to me versus what I "should" be composting if I were a purist. I would refuse a lot of the rabbit poop available to me because the people use dry bedding instead of straw. Dry bedding just doesn't decompose the way it should. But the idea of all that poop going to the landfill is even more unappealing. Am I helping the planet, or just being an idiot?
It takes me three to six months to collect enough raw material to build a standard 4 x 6 x 6 pile. By this time, more than half the material has lost its heat.
My piles don't have the diversity of materials I wish they did.
I can't afford to buy the products recommended to help in composting.
I struggle to know, bury the compost? or leave it to rot on the top of the soil?
When I bury it, I feel guilty about digging into the soil, because I feel that the soil does better when Man leaves it alone. When I leave it to rot on top, I can actually see how the fumes from the pile affects the leaves of sensitive trees.
How could something so simple be so complex?
Why do I struggle to feel good about it? Because, after six years, I haven't seen the benefits equal the effort. Too much wood product, too much poop, too many grass clippings, not enough other vegetative materials. I don't end up with a low end product. And yet, I can't stop, because as low end as it feels, it is still miles ahead of what was here to start with.
I just wish composting was easier.

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