NatureMill

Yesterdays jam seemed to prompt the machine to dump the mix in the mixing chamber into the bottom cure try, pretty much filling it up.

So this morning I found a likely looking Rose in the garden and treated it to a feed, tipping the compost around the base. We've not been able to get hold of any horse muck for the garden this year so the NatureMill compost is going to be a big help.

The experience so far has been very positive. The NatureMill does what it says on the tin and it's going to be very interesting to see how the second batch works out.

The only downside to this initial batch was it's smell (once outside on the garden) and not all items had composted as well as would have been ideal.

We've been adding an assortment of kitchen food waste over the last week and all seemed to be going OK until I noticed a couple of days ago that the mixture in the 'mixing chamber' was almost a paste. The American manufacturer mentioned that the 1st batch is often a little 'wet' so I decided to add another couple of handfuls of sawdust pellets. This seems to have done the trick. The NatureMill has mixed them into the soon to be compost and the mix has improved noticeably. Much dryer and "compost like".

This morning I noticed the machine had a red light on the front panel indicating a 'Jam'. I pressed the OK button hoping that it would free it's self up but no joy. The mixing arm whirred for a while and then stopped. I assumed that it was because the mix was to stodgy but on further investigation it was jammed up with an old potato !

The instructions recommend that larger items are cut down into manageable chunks to avoid such problems and suggest leaving the machine for 24hours as items often soften up allowing the machine to free it's self. Needless to say we didn't bother........

Since the big switch on we've been feeding the NatureMill with food scraps, mostly old fruit and out of date bread. Today I happened to open the draw front and checked the terracotta coloured 'Cure Tray' and found our first batch of nice looking compost ! Impressive as it's only been a few days.

Now and again I hear the machine turning over the compost in the mixing chamber keeping the mix aerated. When adding new food you notice that the composting chamber is quite warm. This also helps speed the composting process.

The machine is made from a recycled foam/plastic material which has excellent installation properties, so once the composting chamber is up to temperature it requires very little power to keep it warm.

First things first, I walk down to our vegetable patch and get some soil with which to prime the NatureMill with. The instructions suggest 2 mug fulls. The soil provides the bacteria which will break the food waste down into compost. I add a couple of hand fulls of sawdust pellets from the bag provided (to give the compost body) and 2 table spoons of Bi Carbonate of Soda to help keep the acidity correct. I pop in a few token scraps of food and prepare for the big switch on.

With the transformer, NatureMill and travel adapter connected up, I switch it on. The NatureMill produces a low hum which is the air pump recycling air from the composting 'mixing chamber'. Recycling the air speeds up the composting action by keeping the oxygen levels up. The 'old' air is extracted via a carbon filter which keeps everything smelling sweet.

The NatureMill arrived nicely packed and undamaged after it's trip from the USA complete with instructions, a US power adapter (!), a bag of sawdust pellets and some Bi Carbonate of Soda. Before I could start composting the first job was to pop into town and pick up a travel adapter so that we could plug it in. That done I set up the composter in our pantry, just a couple of steps from the kitchen. I'm thinking the more convenient the location the more likely we are to recycle.

Back in the office after teaching skiing for a couple of weeks and I find a bill from Parcelforce asking for the VAT on our evaluation NatureMill machine which is currently stuck in a local depot. I pay the VAT and the hefty Parcelforce 'Admin' fee and ask if they will deliver tomorrow.

As a family and in my business we are trying to do more and more recycling. Living in a rural location means that we already have a traditional outdoor compost heap. The trouble is it's at the other end of the garden which is fine in the Summer but a pain in the Winter when it's wet and cold.

I was sure I'd heard of indoor composting systems and a web search eventually threw up NatureMill, a kitchen appliance, electrically powered that turns kitchen waste (cooked AND uncooked) into compost.

Perfect. No more trekking up the garden AND we can recycle cooked food waste, which can not usually be composted in a normal garden compost heap or put in your council's "green bin".

The trouble is there was no UK importer, until NOW. This blog documents my personal experience with the first NatureMill machine in the UK, and how we got on with 'indoor composting'.