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For a long time I've wanted to compost and in small ways I have. This year I have lots of ideas to make it happen on a larger scale. My goal is to have compost for the gardens whenever I want it. Well, that means that it has to get started.
Right now I have my "Every Day Scraps" composter that is working pretty well for taking care of the kitchen scraps. This compost barrel is pretty efficient, but doesn't produce a lot of compost. Inside is an active colony of Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae. They are amazing at reducing the scraps to just a brown goo. Because the BSF are there and it is a closed container I don't mind throwing in small amounts of meats and fats.
What I really want is big pile of manure type compost for the garden. This bin will be the start of making that happen. I have talked with the horse farmer down the road and we have a deal. I shovel the poo out of the stalls and take it as my payment. I will be looking for a good source of carbon as well to mix with the poo. For now I am picking up bags of leaves in the neighborhoods that are out for pickup. I am also considering talking to the local company that makes trusses and seeing about picking up the sawdust from the large saw. I happen to know that they only use untreated wood.
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| Chicken Checking Out New Crate for Compost - Daddykirbs Garden Blog |
The cool thing about this new compost bin is that it is a shipping crate that I didn't have to pay for or construct. It was sitting behind my workplace just like you see it. I just put it on the pickup and brought it home. Once in place I put some cardboard in the bottom to start the first layer. You can see Helena the hen is very interested in whats going on here :)
I also have a compost pile that I add manure and leaves too. Here are the chickens enjoying tearing my pile up.
This is a short clip that shows me adding leaves to the big pile. Check out the steam!
There are many things that can be composted. I seem to have plenty of "greens" but don't always have plenty of "browns". I started tossing in my toilet paper rolls to help fluff up the mix and to add the important browns.
Go to this link to view and comment on the current blog: http://daddykirbs.blogspot.com/2013/01/making-compost-happen.html
Nice! I envy you all that space. I just started composting in earnest last summer. I wish I had a bigger space.
ReplyDeleteThankyou for your nice comment. I think composting on any scale is a good thing.
DeleteNice find on the shipping crate. I think I need something similar. Right now everything goes in a heap around an old stump but doesn't really stay piled because the chickens and dogs pick through it. Our saw mills sell their dust but because there is agricultural demand here its not cheap.
ReplyDeleteMy chickens do a great job of spreading out the pile too. I just added leaves to it today and piled it back up.
DeleteWonderful! I made a round one of hardware cloth and keep in the corner of the coop. When I move it to get some soil out from beneath the chickens go nuts for all the worms down there.
ReplyDeleteGood idea keeping it in the coop. I know the chickens go nuts with freshly exposed compost.
DeleteI suppose with all that manure, you don't have to bother to activate it yourself! ;-)
ReplyDeleteOh to compost on this scale! I bet those chickens add a little nitrogen as they're tearing the pile apart.
The chickens do add their bits! ... and sometimes I go out and "activate" it a bit more myself. It's a good pile :)
DeleteNice post on composting! Love those chickens. Wish I were in Lincolnshire right now. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping in at Cranberry Morning. We just got back from Texas last night, which explains the delay in responding to your nice comment on the typewriter. My laptop was left at home after all. I decided to take a break.
Happy composting! I think the farmer is pretty happy about this arrangement too. :-)
Well to be fair... I don't recall commenting on the typewriter, but I did just check out your blog :) Nice work. Thanks for visiting me here at on the daddykirbs blog.
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