Yeah, I've also got a naturemil. Unfortunately it got moved to the back deck due to noise and odor. However, it's been working well out there despite freezing temps, rain etc.

Good Compost doesn't require turning and aerating but fast compost does. If you have the time and the room in your backyard, once you get your first pile going, let it live there a year.

I've had a indoor worm bin for two years. It doesn't smell and there are no flies. I shred all my paper documents that I don't want to put in the recycling bin and bury my worms and food scraps in that. I get about 10 gallons of compost every three months. Google 'rubbermaid worm bin' to get started

Second the worm bin. I've worm composted for close to thirty years. Very few problems and easy maintenance without odor or inconvenience.

And no need for electricity.

Yesterday I put compost on my newly planted heirloom tomatoes and asparagus. It's from my two boxes made out of wood pallets, plus a huge pile of backyard waste next to them for stuff that won't compost quick enough to use in the garden when we want to. We've got one box of compost that is ready to use by the time we need it, and one box for newer stuff. I think the biggest mistake we made was not putting them in the sun so they can get that solar energy and get cooking! To make up for it, we'll be covering them in manure and grass this winter.

I tried the inside ones and it smelled a little too much for me. It wasn't supposed to smell at all from the box. I like the worm farms now. Although they take some effort to maintain.

I have been using the NatureMill for about 3 months now and while it isn't perfect, it makes wonderful compost.

While in normal operating conditions it does not emit any odors. But when you open the lid to add waste or take out the bottom tray to use the compost, you will notice an odor. Now, if you have created good compost, the odor is very earthy and quite tolerable. However, if you create a wet, sour batch (which I have done once) it does smell bad.

I keep it in my kitchen under a window which I open when ever I open my NatureMill. Just watch your ratios of greens to browns. The company recommends a 50/50 ratio, but I usually use a bit more brown items. You don't have to use the sawdust (it's actually really cheap by the way and is made from leftover, untreated mill wood). Small leaves that I collect in my yard work great. A small tip, adding a cup of soil every once in a while seems to do wonders.

The noise from my machine isn't very loud at all. I actually welcome the sound as I think about all that rich compost that is being made.

When I transfer to the bottom tray, I wait one week before taking the compost out. When I empty the bottom tray, I put it in a bucket out in my yard and let it sit for another week in the sun before actually using it. I have been putting it on my yard this spring instead of store bought fertilizer and my yard is looking really nice and green.

I have been really happy with it. I live in Colorado and outdoor composting just seems to take a long time before it creates a good useable product. I have heard that the compost created with the NatureMill can speed up the compost process in outdoor bins. Perhaps I will try it.

This is very helpful, and the comments are just as so! The first time I actually even saw composing done this way was in England just a couple months ago. When growing up, we always just threw it in a pile - living in the country, we didn't have to worry about much. But this is great for my now city-life!

I have a nature Mill, have had it about 6 months, and it too has been relegated to outside, odorless it is not. Also I have no end of trouble with it jamming up, it is forever in a state of fault. I have emptied it out and re-started a couple of times. And no dice.
In all it seems like it would be great but I have yet to master it I guess.....

Lobby your local government to start a composting program. That is the only way you can make a real difference in diverting organic waste from landfill. After all, most people won't do anything for the environment if it isn't easy.

Add another thumbs up to worm composting. Easy, no smell, and honestly, it actually becomes fun after a while. Either you get it or you don't though....if you think worms and compost are disgusting, then no, you probably never will.

I would have a really hard time justifying using electricity for something as easy as compost. I would also get out a Killawatt and verify their claims. This seems like too little electricity for heater/motor combo.

I used to do large piles in the yard that would take about a year to cook. Recently I have shifted to an EnviroCycle composter which take about 5 weeks in the warm weather. The EnviroCycle is a drum-shaped bin 21 inches wide and 30 inches in diameter. It sits on a series of rollers to make turning the pile easier. It works faster than a traditional pile because frequent turning provides more air, and it also traps the heat of the sun and the compost itself to keep the bugs happily munching away. The excess water that collects in the base, "compost tea", is an excellent fertilizer in its own right.

I have a question for other composters. The difference between green and brown material is just the water content right? Couldn't a pile be made with mostly brown material as long as it was evenly moistened first? I usually have an abundance of brown material and not enough green to balance it out.

I just started worm composting too...actually it's our first venture into any composting.

So far so good...my daughter really likes the worms, so we have to keep it in the garage or we'll have "free" worms roaming the kitchen.

I have had the Nature Mill for 3 weeks. I am loving the compost it can create so far. Slight smell when it opens. I live in NYC - 4th floor walk-up and now that we recycle and compost- we have only non-recyclable plastic in the trash which makes for a lot less trips to the garbage area.

It's also appealing as apartment dwellers that our organics are not 1- going in a landfill and 2. not contributing to trash smell near our building. :)

Sounds like a dandy little machine. If it ONLY had a simple solar panel and battery pack, you could put it ANYWHERE. Why don't these manufacturers THINK of such things?

The bokashi system is a terrific indoor compost system that doesn't smell (much, anyway), uses no electricity, is absolutely silent, and produces a bokashi water that makes my kafir lime produce lots of those yummy lemmongrass tasting leaves and makes my orchids explode in blooms. The water works well down the drains, too, to keep them clear. Since we live on a houseboat we cannot use the actual compost at home, but the plants in the organic garden at my kid's school just adore it. For the bokashi additive, you can either buy the purchase it at a site like Gaiam.com or make your own from any of the recipes on the web. The bokashi system is as close to perfect as an inside composter can be.

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Hi, Kelly - Bokashi sounds great - where could readers learn more about it?

I also have a NatureMill. It is the only way to go. MUCH better than any other composter I have ever used. It handles fish, cheese, and egg shells, which is really great.

Mine makes no odors, and I keep in in my kitchen without any problem. You really have to follow the instructions and add enough sawdust as required, especially when adding lots of wet stuff. It's worth the $6 to buy a 6 month supply of sawdust pellets from them.

I purchased the NatureMill Pet Friendly composter to complement our vermicomposting as it is advertised for pet waste and fish skin as well as other protein based food wastes which we don't put into our vermicomposter.

We are quite disappointed with it as it is an awful smell and was quite loud such that we have moved it from inside in our laundry room to outside on our porch. The pet waste it was intended for is for 2 cats and this proved to be terrible as the smell was sickening. We stopped using it for the pet waste. It does ok with limited amount of fish skins but still overall it is much too smelly although we've also maintained the sawdust/baking soda additions as instructed.

Our vermicomposter has been much more effective and has only a faint earthy smell such that it remains in our kitchen.

I don't think the $300 that we paid for Naturemill was worth it. Composting is a natural process and we're looking forward to setting up a worm bin to eliminate the electricty and Naturemills Odor.