Thursday 26 May 2011

Make Your Own Homemade Compost: The Pit-less, Hassle-free Way

Three years ago, when I read about the Kambha in the newspaper, I got curious.  Here was a solution that promised to get rid of most of our garbage without any hassle. It seemed too good to be true. But like the high-frequency mosquito repellent gadget, which doesn’t even work for a day, was the Kambha another fraudulent device? Luckily, curiosity got the better of me. My husband and I went to meet the Kambha distributor at her home in Nungambakkam. What really convinced us in favour of the device was the distributor’s own Kambha. She was kind enough to let us right into her kitchen balcony and show us how her Kambha worked. We were amazed to find that despite holding bucket loads of garbage, it didn’t stink or attract any pests. 
Kambha: For Pit-less Composting
Today, with 3 years of composting experience, I can vouch for the magic of  the Kambha. It's the easiest way to convert truck loads of kitchen and garden waste into precious  compost. We could complain about all the piles of stinky garbage lying around in the city or we could choose to use the Kambha. I assure you I haven’t been paid to write this post. I am endorsing it only because in all earnestness, I find it the neatest composter around.

The traditional way to composting is the compost pit. But the pit could attract rodents and other pests. You also need enough space for a pit.  The Kambha, on the other hand, requires very little space and is rodent-proof.  The fact that it has been designed by a designer of the internationally acclaimed National Institute of Design, shows in many ways. Seemingly simple, the design is  functional, sustainable, affordable and aesthetic, just as Poonam Bir Kasturi, the designer had envisaged.

The Kambha is a 3-tiered terracotta structure. You fill the top-most pot with wet kitchen waste and dry garden leaves and twigs. (If you don’t have a garden, just add shredded newspaper, sawdust or cardboard pieces.) Once 3/4th full, it is swapped with the middle unit.  After some time when the stuff in the middle unit has further reduced and partially composted, swap it  with the bottom-most unit, where it will mature further. Continue this cycle of filling and swapping for a few months, before you can harvest fully done compost. Doesn’t it sound simple? IT IS SIMPLE. All you need to do is spend a couple of minutes each day putting your waste in the Kambha. On weekends, you could devote a little more time, to make sure that nothing’s amiss.
 What's Inside the Kambha
There are many myths to composting.
Composting is believed to be:
1.      Stinky and messy
2.      Time consuming
3.      Difficult
4.      Needing Space
5.      Attracting Rodents and Pests 

I can assure you that with the Kambha, composting is easy as A,B,C. I’ll leave it to the Daily Dump guys to convince you why the myths are all false. They’ve also a very good section on how to troubleshoot. You could run into trouble, if you don’t have the right mix of wet and dry stuff. The only trouble we ever had was in the Kambha’s first year, when we hardly added any dry garden waste. With only wet kitchen waste, the composter had more moisture than necessary and attracted some maggots. But the maggot infestation wasn’t troublesome and was easily dealt with. 

Final Sieved Compost: Fine as Tea dust
Armed with a little experience and plenty of fine compost, my husband recently convinced his colleagues to go in for a composter, the Manthan, to deal with all the canteen waste at his workplace.

Many of our urban garbage bins are such smelly eyesores. Composting is one easy, yet concrete way for each of us to actually contribute in cleaning up all the mess around us. I hope this post of mine will encourage you to begin composting.

21 comments:

  1. vasanti said

    thank you for this wonderful information. in visakhapatnam, we dont get ready made khambhas but i will try to get a potter to make one for me and start using it.

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  2. If you could get a potter to make 3 large pots with a few holes for aeration in each, then you could have your kambha.
    Actually, if anyone you know in Vizag is interested in starting a small business of selling kambhas in the city, they could get a lot of support from the Daily Dump guys. Just let them explore the Clones section in their website to figure out how.

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  3. Why cant our Municipality adopt this method?

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  4. I've also wondered why our government can't provide Kambhas and Manthans at a subsidized price. But, even if we were to get free Kambhas, it needn't necessarily translate into less garbage in our dumping yards. Because, finally people need to care enough to use them. You'll be surprised to know that it takes a LOT of motivation to get people to segregate their waste, despite the numerous benefits. Of course, more awareness will certainly help. So do spread the word.

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  5. This is fantastic! I have composted for many years, and I also teach composting classes. I have never heard of the Kambha method, but it sounds excellent...especially for apartment or small home dwellers. Thanks for sharing! And welcome to Blotanical!

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  6. Hi Anita; Found your blog via Blotanical. How nice it is to find someone who is obviously as fanatical as me about growing veg! Flowers are all very well, but vggies are better. I particularly liked your post about tomatoes, which are a favourite of mine. Hope you will visit my blog to compare experiences.

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  7. Hi Anita, found your blog via Mark Willis's recommendation. The Kambha method is a great space saving idea for urban dwellers in any country! I'm new at vegetable gardening and often pepper Mark Willis with questions. Welcome to Blotanical!

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  8. Sage Butterfly, Mark Willis and Jeni.... Thank you all for your comments and leading me to your wonderful blogs.

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  9. Hi Anita, what a wonderful and informative post on the Kambha. Not common in our parts. This is something I'd definitely like to try out. And I'll check out the link. Thanks!

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  10. This Kambha method of composting is something I would like to try. Easy and convenient. Thanks for sharing this. Welcome to blotanical.

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  11. Wonderful! I am looking forward to getting the compost, maybe in another month or so.

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  12. I'm so glad to have found your blog and this particular post... A year back a friend mentioned reading something about this but barely remembered any names all she could give me was dirty dumps which didn't give me any related topic on google...

    I've been trying to make my own easy composting bins... and I'm sure this will help me a lot.

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  13. If you love gardening, then you might know how to make compost. But if you don’t have enough time to do composting, a kitchen compost container is good for you. By the way, thanks for sharing.

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  14. Hey anitha...I am new to kitchen gardening...and was browsing for learning about a compost when I came across your blog. Have seen a khamba in a cousins place in bangalore. I am placed in cochin. Shall look for one here. Thank u for the input..:)

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  15. Pls share the address where I can get kumbha in chennai?

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    1. You can look up the Daily Dump website to to find out where you can get a Lambha in your city. For Chennai, here is the link: http://www.dailydump.org/cities/chennai

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  16. Great post Anita, and very useful information. I wish the composters we get here are as pretty as these :( I hope your readers do not just stop at appreciating your efforts and actually put these tips to use in their own homes. How wonderful would it be if every apartment association had a common composter like this! Here is to a cleaner and healthier world!

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    1. The number of composters in Chennai is indeed increasing. There is a lot of recycling too. Of course, a lot more needs to be done to keep pace with the increasing amount of garbage that cities produce.

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  17. Good article Anita. Will start with Kambha, especially after the floods. This is the best solution to avoid another flood in chennai.

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  18. Hi.. where do you get khamba in Chennai and how much is it??

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    1. I got mine a very long time ago, so the cost and shop may no longer be relevant. I believe today the Kambha may cost you about Rs 2000. Pls check out http://dailydump.org/shopping/index.php/storelocator for more info.

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