u/External-Cherry7828

These pics are my compost I started last year and I am currently harvesting. I was just curious what rule of thumb you folks use to determine good vs bad compost and finished vs undercooked.

Good vs bad kind of just comes natural after a while, and it's hard to explain. I personally like it crumbley like kinetic sand or wet coffee grounds. My granny said she would use the pinch and roll method where you get a golf ball amount of compost and rub it between your fingers or in the palm of your hands if it begins turning your skin a deep black it's good and ready. She also said the best compost is always at the bottom and I. The corners, esp when you have to scrape it off the walls. I assumed this was due to leachate and worms congregating.

Finished vs undercooked is a little easier and honestly I will use both. If I can still make out the original inputs it's not done, BUT what I will do is take out the larger woodier components and use a handful as a fertilizer of sorts for very established healthy plants. Also if mushrooms are popping up I've always assumed it's cycled enough times that it's ready for the garden.

The critters in my box have been exploding. Everytime I lift the cardboard it is something new and I love it, but some of them give me the willies. I hate millipedes and last week it was soldier fly larva. This week it's the huge French fry sized centipedes and some white larva of some sort. Someone told me that they were rhino beetle larva which are definitely in the area but I thought they were a little different. Hard to tell. I mainly just don't want something devouring my worms

We had a storm last night and in our driveway this morning was this little beauty. It looks like some kind of fern and airplane growing off of an oak branch? Basically wanting to know if I can bring it inside and care for it. It appears to be a self contained system where the ferns are using the old branch as a growing medium, so would I just need to mist it??? Thanks in advance

Growing outside of a pawn shop by the road. Really tall and a trunk the size of a dogwood with pretty bell/lupine shaped white blooms with spots.

I live in South ga where all the wildfires are rampaging. We had to evacuate for a week, and lost power most of this time. My RV was just a hot box for a week straight and when we were allowed to go back home I found these little creatures on my floor. seemingly dead or dormant, with a hard little shell (almost like an acorn). To me they look like the bell beast from hollow knight : silksong. Anyone out there much smarter than me who knows??? Thanks in advance