COMPOST - TIME TO START THE NEXT BATCH!

This is one of my favorite parts of gardening.

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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…

GIF provided by @anzirpasai

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