Many gardeners give up making backyard compost in frustration—the compost pile smells, it requires too much work to turn the heap, and the process requires too many ingredients and too much attention. Gardeners who have used compost barrels or kits know that their experience ends in one way: a smelly barrel that, after months of care, produces only a tiny amount of compost. What to do? Return to the way that compost has been made for centuries—in shallow pits. With this method, the compost never needs to be turned, never smells, and is ready in half the time. Any backyard gardener can make volumes of sustainable compost without any work. Shallow pit composting works with Mother Nature, letting her do the work!

Caleb Warnock is the popular author of Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency, The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast, Backyard Winter Gardening For All Climates, More Forgotten Skills, Trouble's On The Menu, and the Backyard Renaissance Collection. He is the owner of SeedRenaissance.com and blogs at CalebWarnock.blogspot.com, where you will find a link to join his email list to learn more about forgotten skills.