This is one of my favorite parts of gardening.
Obviously eating the "fruit of my labor" is an excellent part too, but composting gives us an opportunity to turn a lot of "waster material" into something incredibly useful.
COMPOST UPDATE VIDEO
READY TO START BATCH TWO
Once we start doing something like this, it gets addictive. Back in Wisconsin, I used to just compost in the garden. Down here in the Ozarks, it took me a while to set something up. This is our simple, free, version of a compost bin. It's made out of scrap roofing metal, junk pallets, and some free screws that were discarded. It may not be much to look at, but it certainly works.
Eventually we plan on building a three chamber compost bin out of concrete blocks. For now though, this sure gets the job done. After adding some chicken manure, rabbit manure, lawn clippings, dried leaves, coffee grounds, weeds, and various food waste to our first bin for a while now, we are calling it quits and starting the next batch.
I just added on this second section yesterday. Basically, the pallets hold the form, the metal roofing prevents the material from falling through the pallets, and we just keep adding to it and turning it. It is amazing how hot the compost can get as it breaks down. On a cool day, a lot of steem can be seen rising from the compost pile, especially when you are mixing it up.
This is the "starter" for our second batch, and it is made up of a combination of things. You can probably see the green weeds near the right side. Once you start composting and realize that weeds can be turned into beneficial compost for your garden, it really makes you want to weed the garden even more. The heat and moisture of the composting process prevents the seeds from sprouting, so even mature weeds can be added to the compost.
We also have a lot of Chicken/Muscovy Duck/Guinea Fowl/Quail manure mixed with some straw, which can be seen in the buckets on the trailer. Beneath that is a mixture of Rabbit manure and lawn clippings. This is a great medium to mix together and get the next compost bin started. We will continue to add yard waste, food waste, egg shells, and other things to it until it gets full.
We will just let the first bin continue to "cook" and break down for a while. Basically, we will just keep mixing up the contents of the bin until It already smells amazing and looks great, but we will let it go for a bit yet before adding it to the garden. For our raised beds, this will be an important step in building them up and enriching the soil. I can hardly wait! Ultimately, composting is just a great way to use a lot of "waste" and create an incredible resource in the process!
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-compost
Until next time…
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I used to really love composting too. I hope that my lifestyle will change again in the future to allow me to indulge in this very different form of "creativity" once again!
I hope that your lifestyle changes too, in the way that you want it to. I had forgotten about simple pleasures like this, but you should see how excited is makes @mama-pepper too. A woman excited about composting... can't beat it!
Good job!....:)...
Be carful composting weeds that might have seeds you could end out spreading them around at some point, and don’t forget to pee on it , cheers mike
I'll be monitoring the possible weed seed germination, in-between peeing on it...
Composting is so key to gardening successfully! Great post @papa-pepper
Oh yeah! Thank you!
this is a very natural fertilizer, we here also use this kind of fertilizer, especially we use fertilizer from cow dung, it is very bagu, for all plants.
after dried cattle dung and into new land we use.
Composting teas work a charm too :)
Wow, very resourceful Papa with making the Compost. Didn't know actual weeds could be used. Learn something new everyday :)
Btw, this doesn't have to do with anything but much like you Papa I believe in Steem and the Steemit platorm. So much that I just bought another 947 shares of Steem last night and powered it on up. Thanks for your blog and you have been a positive influence to keep me here and moving forward. Thank you for that :)
( also wrote a Post last night about my purchase of more steem)
Excellent news! I'm surprised to see STEEM this low, but way to take advantage of it!
That's a great job sir, i appreciate this video.
Thanks for sharing... upvote and resteemit
Glad to hear it. Thanks for checking it out!
Most welcome..... and personally i love your all post.
I need to get ours going. This was a great reminder. I'm running so far behind.
You'll never reap the reward if you don't get it started. No time like the present!
That's a sweet bin setup! I keep on dreaming of starting my own vegetable garden, but unfortunately don't have the proper space. Have to get by tending to other people's garden, although it does still put food on the table :)
Hi!. Thanks for sharing @papa-pepper
1 part energy to 2 or 3 parts bulking agent . great compost!
That is one of the best! Composting! Especially if you have a lot of chicken then you will use their poop as fertilizer after 2 to 3 weeks or the poop of the goat and cows... ☺
todo esfuerzo y dedicación debe valer la pena y creo que Dios lo premia.
Good work sir @papa-pepper , compost fertilizer is very good, I often use it to fertilize my crops :)
I have outgrown our first compost bin and the second is almost full. It is time to build another one. I like the idea for something more permanent like the cement blocks.
Yeah, I almost bought the bricks today... almost
Very helpful write up! I'm always nervous about using "food waste" & manure, because it can contain pathogens that can be harmful. Any tips on how long this process can take and how often to turn the piles? Thx Papa in advance!!
I've enjoy your blog about gardening, @papa-pepper.
I will follow you!
The heat! I love what you can do with it. My dream isn't for a compost powered hot tub
Up here in Zone 5 you need a 4 foot by 4 foot pile in order to get cooking at the proper heat and it takes a full season to compost. I wish I had your warmth, especially this year. It might get as warm as 21C today, the warmest day this month!