How To Make Compost - The Simplest Easy Method to Make Compost in 18 Days
There are so many different ways of composting, but we try to keep things as simple as possible.
There is a method as simple as it gets that is also effective, making rich compost in only 18 days - I call it Jet Fuel Hot Composting. Bill Mollison, the father of Permaculture, created this recipe based on his whole life experience. It’s a foolproof method.
The great thing about jet fuel hot composting is that there are only a few key things you need to follow to be effective.
In this edition, in 4 minutes or less:
#1 The “Jet Fuel Hot Composting” Recipe
#2 Troubleshooting - The Comprehensive Diagnostic Guide
#3 The Overarching Principle - Building High-Agency Through Soil Creation
The “Jet Fuel Hot Composting” Recipe
This is an intense and fast recipe that relies on precise preparation and mixing of the ingredients, but it is, at the same time, forgiving as you will see.
It is the most foolproof multifunction easy method that is also elegantly efficient, that delivers this valuable resource Just-in-Time for your new project, so you never have to wait anymore to start.
Step 1: Collect Your Raw Materials
You need materials that have lived before, organized into three categories:
- “Green” materials (high-nitrogen): Kitchen scraps, fresh grass clippings, coffee grounds, animal manures, urine, fish, “weeds”
- “Brown” materials (high-carbon): Dry leaves, cardboard, paper, wood chips, sawdust
- Activators (any combination, min. 1-2 liters - 1/4-1/2 gallons): Finished compost, manure, urine (as a liquid), fish, dead animals, chopped comfrey, nettle, or yarrow leaves
The magic ratio is roughly 25-30:1 carbon to nitrogen. Mix carbon-rich with nitrogen-rich materials to achieve the ideal ratio. Don’t get obsessed with precision, though.
Basic Tools: Pitchfork, hard rake, waterproof cover (tarp), water source, and compost thermometer (optional but helpful)
The secret: Collecting and storing all these materials where you’re going to make your compost pile is what saves time and effort.
Materials above 30:1 need to be shredded because they are high-carbon materials and slow to break down. Materials below 25:1 don’t need to be shredded.
The hardest to get are the high-carbon materials, because you need bulk. The noble art of scavenging may be your solution if you’re struggling to gather enough material.
Step 2: Assemble The 18-Day Hot Compost Pile
Build your pile to at least 1 cubic meter (35.3 cubic feet)—this critical mass generates the heat needed for rapid decomposition. The pile will sit at about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) high when pitchforked because of how materials settle.
The complete pile is composed of:
- 1/3 brown (carbon-rich), 1/3 manure, and 1/3 green materials (fresh greens).
- You can substitute manure if you can’t source it with legume plants, peas, beans, and leguminous trees’ prunings (green tips, leaves and pods). → 1/3 brown (carbon-rich), 1/3 nitrogen-fixing plant sources, and 1/3 green materials (fresh greens).
Layer like you’re making lasagna, mixing the different materials together as you progress. You can water while you assemble it.
You can place one activator of 1-2 liters (1/4-1/2 gallons) in the center of the pile.
Cover it with a tarp afterward.
The secret: Start with a base layer of coarse materials—twigs, corn stalks - to ensure air flow from the bottom.
Step 3: Manage The Decomposition Process (The Active Phase)
Day 1-3: Your pile should be just warming up.
Day 4: First turn. Move outside materials to the center, center materials to the outside. Moisture content needs to be adjusted to the point of just one drip of water when the material is squeezed tightly.
Day 6: Second turn. Check moisture content.
Day 8: Third turn. Check moisture content. The pile heats up to 50-70°C (122-158°F) between days 6 and 8 (the hottest temperature of the process). The ideal temperature is between 55-65°C (131-149°F). Below 50°C (122°F) it doesn’t work for this fast method and above 70°C (158°F) it turns anaerobic.
Day 10: Fourth turn. Check moisture content. Pile starts to cool down slowly.
Day 12: Fifth turn. Check moisture content.
Day 14: Sixth turn. Check moisture content.
Day 16: Seventh turn. Check moisture content.
This is like tending a living fire. You’re not just mixing - you’re aerating and redistributing moisture and microorganisms.
Check temperature with a compost thermometer (they have a long shaft, which can reach the center of the pile), or by the hand test, inserting your hand into the pile (if the pile is at the right temperature, it will be too hot to hold it there).
If it is hotter in the middle than on the outside, it is too dry, and you should add more water. On the other hand, if it is hotter on the outside than in the middle, it is too wet, and you should leave the pile uncovered to dry.
Step 4: Harvest And Sift Your Black Gold
Day 18: Your finished compost should be dark, crumbly, and smell like the forest floor.
Screen through a mesh. This removes any undecomposed pieces, creating a finer texture. The larger pieces go back into your next compost pile or into the garden as microbacteria-infused mulch. Store your compost somewhere that won’t get leached by water.
Pro tip: Let the finished compost dry slightly before sieving - this prevents clogging of the sieve.
Troubleshooting - The Comprehensive Diagnostic Guide
If not heating up:
- Is the pile big enough (min. 1 m³ (35.3 ft³), 1.5m (4.9 ft) high)?
- Check moisture - adjust if too dry or wet.
- Are the brown materials finely shredded?
- If all of the above is correct, add more nitrogen and extend by 2 more days.
If too hot, smelly, and rapid shrinkage:
- Too much nitrogen: Add shredded brown material, extend by 2 days.
- If pile develops a white threadlike or powdery appearance, that’s another sign to balance with more carbon.
The secret: The trick to making compost is not losing volume. It depends on the right mix. Too much nitrogen makes the decomposition too fast, the pile will smell, it will produce methane, and shrink in volume.
Rat concerns: There is no rat issue. The only thing that could attract rats is if you put dairy, bread, and cooked food. Moreover, when this recipe gets really hot, it makes it unwelcoming to rats. If you are a little concerned, make the compost mount as far away as possible from your house, but as long as you don’t put those things, you won’t have problems.
Build the compost pile on the ground in order for the worms to find it, if your situation allows it. If you compost on the ground, composting will eliminate all the grass and almost all weeds (it’s a nice technique to prepare the space for a future garden bed).
How to know if it is ready: Use your nose and smell it. If it smells like a vibrant, fresh, full-of-life forest floor, it is ready.
The Overarching Principle - Building High-Agency Through Soil Creation
Everything that once lived can be composted, becoming soil, which feeds the life cycle.
Nature does it by itself on its own schedule. When we steer the process, we can adjust to our schedule, while we still delegate the work to nature, which makes it light on us. Composting is a skill, and soil creation is the base to any project that lasts (a legacy that is also sustainable) - your independence and agency grow as your skills compound.
When you master this 18-day jet fuel hot system, you transform from someone dependent on external inputs to someone who creates the foundation of life itself on demand.
This builds:
- Confidence.
- Develops a resource independence mindset
- Trains your pattern recognition to see “waste” as asset.
You become the type of gardener who creates opportunities - someone who sees elegant solutions where others see expensive or unsolvable problems.
Compost is the gardener’s best friend.
It is the absolute best thing you can do to fertilize flowers, trees, shrubs, and vegetables. You can break up hard compacted clay soil with compost, making it drain better, or you can add it to sandy soil, making it hold water better. That is the universally better thing you can add to any plant.
Above all, it is life-rich soil, which is the base of life on Earth.
Now, you can make it at home just in time to deploy in your next garden iteration.
