Burying scraps in the soil is effective, and you want to attract insects, because they help break it down. And mold is not a problem unless there’s too much moisture, so I agree with your dad.

I compost cheaply, easily and organically by mixing kitchen scraps into piles of leaves picked up by the lawn mower bagger. This pile sits directly on the ground, which is good to allow worms and insects in to process the compost.

Each new bucket of kitchen scraps (vegetables plus egg shells) goes into a fresh hole in the pile and gets covered over with the leaves. Eventually it all breaks down into beautiful stuff, without any additional turning.

We have every kind of critter under the sun, and none bothers the pile.

A few caveats: No meat or grease, as that attracts animals. The size of the pile should start at around a cubic yard, to get enough volume to heat up. The moisture level should never be soggy enough to grow mold; just add dry brown stuff if this happens.

If you want things to go faster, try turning it. And good on you for recycling like nature intended!

Waste, such as leaves, grass clippings and trimmings, kitchen waste(but not meat fat) accounts for up to 20 percent of the wastes, and 50% brown(Cow dung). Make a compost pile one meter diameter and 70 cms in height. You can take the drawing from any website
these materials should undergo a degree of decomposition brought about by certain bacteria and fungi (microbes).Temperature should remain +40 degree Centigrade -80 degree Centigrade and moisture in between 30-40%.It should be properly aerated. Therefore you shall need to make turnings after every three days or as per requirement. My experience is that composting barrels are best for home. composting.

He’s mostly right but keep in mind that only certain types of food scraps should be used. The composting barrels are really meant for people who cannot or simply do not want a pile of steaming vegetable matter sitting out in the open. You don’t really need to dig a hole, worms will dig up from underneath and the bacteria and other species that live in and feed from such an environment will do the rest. Done correctly, composting causes the refuse pile to heat up to impressive internal temperatures which kill off bad bacteria and damaging organisms. You should start with some plain soil and begin to mix in your compost material Newspaper, veggie scraps, coffee grounds, anything that is not meat or bone. Turn once a day, meaning mix up the pile by pulling from the bottom and throwing on top. Our compost pile is keep in check with wire fencing and metal stakes. That’s it, it’s that easy.

Nature makes compost without expensive barrels - you don’t need anything expensive either. The simplest way is the basic compost pile. Clear off a section of soil in your back yard and pile grass clippings, leaves, food scraps, etc. on it. Water it as you go so it will be damp but not soaked all the way through. Start with a fairly large collection of stuff, and it should get cooking fairly fast.

If you want to keep it controlled but don’t want to pay $$$ for a tumbler, there are lots of ways to do it. You could get a roll of hardware cloth (wire mesh, about 10 feet long) and connect the two ends to make a cylinder. Stand the cylinder on end, and pile the stuff in the cylinder. Or get three old wood pallets, use brackets (cheap at the hardware store) to connect them as three sides of a square, and pile the stuff up inside the square. Or get some straw bales and build the three-sided square out of them (at least two and a half to three feet high). The straw will eventually rot and become part of the compost. Or get a large garbage can, drill lots of 1/2 inch holes in the sides for aeration and the bottom for drainage, and pile the stuff in that. Drill some holes in the lid, turn the lid upside down to collect rain and funnel it into the pile, and use a bungee to hold the lid on. Use your imagination: virtually anything that will keep your pile exposed to the air and the soil and the rain will do.