Last week, my pops, Nehe, and I, unloaded my compost bin and refilled it with fallen leaves. It was perfect weather outside and we certainly took advantage of it. Last year my dad built me my first compost bin. He filled it himself with all of the leaves that had fallen in his backyard. He filled the entire bin to the brim! After the winter, you could noticeably see that the leaves had compacted. I started saving all of my veggie scraps and chicken droppings to add to the compost bin, however, I decided against adding it to the pile because the leaves had already begun to decompose and I wasn’t sure if I wanted different stages of compost. Obviously, I still have alot to learn in this area and will be researching throughout the winter. I’ll definitely share my findings 🙂 I do know, I want to add some red worms! I was thinking for next year, that I would like to start a second pile, one that’s “brewing” and one to use. I saw this method being used at Blue Gate Farm and thought it made alot of sense. While one is heating up and doing it’s thing, I could actively be using a second pile that’s already a year old.
Do you compost? Do you have any suggestions that you’d like to share?
Anyway’s, after a solid year of composting, we lifted the front panel and… WOW… beautiful Earth smelling, rich, dark, compost.
I wish it had other additives to have enriched the compost more, but hey… for my first shot, I was pretty darn happy! I was also excited to find, juicy plump worms aerating my compost. Nehemiah was trying to pick them out and save them for his chickens, lol! He really thinks worms were put here on Earth by God for the sole purpose of feeding chickens. I’d say it’s part true so I’ll let him think that for awhile 😉
Here is my compost bin with the compost dug half out.
It doesn’t look like much, but let me tell you, it was compacted and heavy! Remember this bin started completely filled with leaves. For those of us that know what it’s like to rake up leaves and bag them, we squished these babies down so it was packed full!
I ended up using all of this compost and spreading it on my three plots at my parents home.
I’m going to seed some garlic today and hope for some spring garlic come next year! Now that I’ve tested and seen the results, I’m definitely starting a new pile at my home for my new garden plots. Definitely, if you have leaves at home, save them in a compost bin or spread them right on top of your garden plots and they’ll make perfect compost for next years garden!
If you’d have any experience, suggestions or tips you’d like to share on composting please comment. I can definitely use all the help I can get! Off to the November Harvest Farmers Market I go. Only one more market day in December until the final close of the season!
Hi, Diana,
The compost and compost bin looks great. I love the color of the dark compost. =Tien
I can't wait to see the posts of your grown compost ! I remember my grandma used to grow cilantro, garlic, onion, chives and many other herbs on her compost… 🙂
Have a beautiful and blessed weekend !!!!
xoxoxo
oh very cool, love it I put it on bags at my old place and the same thing happened I should do it again i bet your veggies love it lol Rebecca
I used to have a pt job back in college…in ames…at duds n suds…ha. Anyway…my boss made me save all the coffee grounds and the leftover popcorn every night for his compost 🙂
We just started composting this year and I love it – I completely notice a HUGE difference in our garbage now and feel horrible throwing things away when I'm away from home!
I spent a lot of time learning and teaching about compost over the last couple years. One of the things I looked into was worms. For indoor closed system composting I think California Red Worms are the way to go. For outdoor open system composting I wouldn’t go with red worms. California Red Worms are native to California not Iowa. From an invasive species point of view I don’t feel comfortable with these worms.
I choose local worms. They have the local fauna of bacteria and micro organisms in their gut and will pass it on to your compost which in turn will be better for your garden. Usually red worms are tauted as the worm that can create compost fastest. The local worms aren’t significantly slower. In a side by side comparison I saw when I visiting a demonstration garden the worm casting volume produced looked almost identical. Basically I don’t think California Red Worms are better than your local garden variety. But you can’t go out and buy a bucket of local worms, so how do you get them?
I recommend creating a raised bed garden in the spring to collect worms through the summer. Measure out a 4×4 area and loosen the soil with a pick axe or spade. Next, get four pieces of wooden planks with a width of about 12” and make a 4×4 box around the turned soil. Next place the following ingredients like you are making lasagna. Make a total of three layers in your box.
1st Fallen Brown Leaves or Grass (you don’t need to chop these)
2nd Green material like recently cut weeds (chopped up)
3rd Cow Manure Fresh (if the manure is dry and clumped you may need to wet it and mix it until it is a thick wet cement texture, you could also use horse manure)
When the three layers are done add a healthy layer of finished compost or top soil on top. Let the bed sit for two months, turning it every two weeks. If the bed is out in the open and constantly exposed to the sun; water once every three days. The bed will shrink as the materials decompose inside, so, slowly add compost until your box is full. After two months you will have a great bed for planting vegetables. A nice side effect is that worms love manure and will flock to your bed. While turning the bed simply collect the worms and place them into a container to start your worm box!
Diana,
I used to compost when I was living in the bay area, and even though I no longer compost on site (in my small urban apt), I am very passionate about the topic. In my view, composting is the ultimate form of recycling. When you undergo such a practice, you gain a better understanding of how much waste we create. But also you transform the concept of waste into a rich, and nutritious feed that enriches the earth, quite a beautiful thing!
I think you are doing a terrific job incorporating chicken dropping and veggie scraps. I wouldn't be afraid to add to them if the leaves are in the process of decomposing, it doesn't hurt the garden, and eventually you can sift out the finished compost to add to the garden. Some of my favorite things to compost are egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags, water melon rinds, coconut husks, basically a diverse mixture.
I used red worms, which were very hungry and prolific, making a great meal for the chickens.
Great job!
All I can say is – you're awesome!
this looks awesome. Good job. we tried having a worm bin in our apartment but totally failed. I was super bummed.
Kudos to you and thank you to those of you who shared tips for composting. We've got the water harvesting down and this makes me extra motivated to master the composting!
Amazing! I am so envious of your compost. I wish I had the space or even a garden.
Foy and Christine, Thank you so much for the information! I'm so looking forward to stepping it up with my compost next year!
Well done, Diana! You really did work hard on your gardening plot. I'm sure the up coming veggies will grow wonderfully with your homemade organic fertilizer. Good luck!
Wow…. diana you keep amaze me…
I love to learn from your blog….maybe one day I can take care of my garden by my self 🙂
Keep these posts coming:D