GAINESVILLE — Add one part grass clippings or banana peels to three parts leaves or hay and a little water and you have your very own compost pile.

Composting at home can be an easy process, reduces the amount of trash a household produces and creates a nutrient-rich fertilizer for your garden.

"When some people think about composting they think ‘yuck,’ but composting is really good," said Peter Gordon, executive director at Elachee Nature Center in Gainesville. "If you like nature and you like the outdoors and you would like to cut down on the amount of trash that you produce, composting is a really good solution to that."

A compost pile would be easy to start in the winter with dead leaves in full supply and food waste always available.

"This time of year is the perfect time of year to begin composting because you can collect lots of leaves," Gordon said. "Brown (items) could be wheat straws, basically any type of hay you can buy at Lowe’s or a garden shop.

"The greens are the things that are rich in nitrogen, like grass clippings, the food scraps in the kitchen; it could also be something, if you live near a farm, like cow manure."

The right combination of browns to greens is very important because "if you have too much green it starts to smell, if you have too much brown your compost will kind of sit there and look at you," Gordon said.

It is not recommended to add meat or cheese to the pile because it will begin to smell and may attract unwanted animals.

There are composting bins available in a range of prices, but you don’t have to spend money at all.

"Some are bought at the store, some are made out of plastic and others are made out of metal," he said. "Others are a little more rustic and simple; it’s all up to you in what you want to do."

Any type of structure can be used to build a compost bin according to www.hallcounty.org. This can include welded wire, fencing, pallets or blocks.

The Web site also suggests the bin be a minimum size of three feet square, and to leave open spaces in the sides to allow good air circulation and the bottom open to the ground.

"It’s good to add some moisture to your compost," Gordon said. "We have two things going on: a biological process where animals and critters are working in a compost and at the same time it’s a chemical reaction between the carbon in the browns and the nitrogen in the greens."

It is best to store food items from the kitchen in a stainless steel pot that has a tight lid, and when it fills up add that to your compost.

"If you want to be very active with your compost, you need to turn it once or twice a month," Gordon said. "Literally get in there and flip it over to mix. If you want to be a little more passive, put it in there and mix it every three or four months. It will compost whether you turn it or not."