Composting in the Metroparks!

May 28, 2025

By: Patrick Bigelow Ph.D., Interpretive Services Supervisor

It is springtime! For the Huron-Clinton Metroparks’ Kensington and Wolcott Mills Farm Centers that means our barns and pens are host to many new lambs and goat kids. While they are very cute as they bounce around their pens and explore their world, they also represent more animals to feed, care for, and very importantly clean up after. As the old saying goes, everyone poops. So, what does Kensington Farm Center do with all that animal waste? We compost it! 

In an average year, the farm’s employees clean up about 300,000 lbs of animal manure and dirty bedding (straw and wood shavings). That animal waste is hauled away to the Kensington compost yard where we combine it with other organic materials from around the Metropark. Weeds pulled from flower beds, grass clippings from lawns, wood chips from storm damaged trees, and even lakeweeds cleaned off the beaches are all mixed together in specific ratios. To every new pile we also blend in some finished compost to add all the microorganisms, bacteria and fungi, that are needed to break down those organic materials.

Regularly turning the pile keeps it aerated, providing the oxygen the microbes need to live, grow, and importantly eat. A well-functioning compost pile will even heat up to between 115 to 160̊  F as those microorganisms chow down on all that yummy organic matter. Those high temperatures speed up the decomposition and kill weed seeds in the pile. Our compost piles even steam throughout the winter. Once our piles are finished the nutrient rich compost is used all over Kensington Metropark to fertilize the farm’s pumpkin patch, as a soil amendment in landscaping, and to restore topsoil after construction projects.

In 2024, the Huron-Clinton Metroparks took part in the NextCycle Michigan grant process and received a pilot project grant from the Michigan Department of the Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). Thanks to that funding, the Kensington compost yard is spending 2025 testing new compost recipes to improve our composting turn-around time, the time it takes decomposition to breakdown the organic components into finished compost, as well as develop new recipes to be used at other Metroparks. Not every Metropark has a Farm Center or beaches, so compost recipes are being tested that will be relevant to the organic materials available in each of our 13 Metroparks. Both Metropark Farm Centers are taking part in the pilot project with Wolcott Mills Farm Center even trialing vermiculture (worm composting) and food waste composting for patrons picnicking at the Farm’s picnic shelter.

This pilot project is part of the Huron-Clinton Metroparks Climate Action Plan to reduce our environmental impacts (https://www.metroparks.com/climate-action-plan/). While this project is working behind the scenes, it will translate to reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and financial savings as less topsoil and fertilizer needs to be purchased and disposal costs are reduced when dealing with excess organic matter, like lakeweeds at Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie Metroparks.

Composting does not just have to be an activity for cities or parks, you can do it at home too! You can use a commercially made compost bin, make one yourself, or just use the pile method. For the pile method, start with at least a 3ft square space and place down a layer of coarse brown materials, like twigs or straw, to help drainage. Make sure this first layer is on the ground, so worms and other beneficial organisms have a chance to find their way to your compost. Then alternate layers of “greens” and “browns” with the brown layers twice as thick as the greens. Greens include food scraps, grass clippings, and weeds pulled from garden beds. Browns include twigs, dry leaves, and shredded paper products like newspaper and cardboard. Keep your pile damp but not soggy and most importantly, turn your pile every few weeks. A shovel or garden fork works great to aerate a pile, no need for a front-end loader like we use. If you start a pile now you should have finished compost by fall, just in time to apply to garden beds and spread around your trees, shrubs, and other perennials.