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Post by Chuck on Jan 11, 2005 2:10:04 GMT -5
Where we live the weather is cool and wet making composting difficult. We usually mulch in the fall and till it under in the spring when we do our tilling and make raised beds. Our chicken and goat houses provide a lot of manure each spring and fall. We leave it in the houses during the winter just adding more hay for bedding, this helps keep the animals warmer. We just clean the houses in the fall and spring. Since our goats free range year round the only time they are in the houses is at night or the more severe weather. The chickens are out most of the time also, but we feed them grain in the winter. The summers they are fed just enough to keep them home on bug patrol.
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Post by sundew on Jan 30, 2005 14:13:59 GMT -5
Wet, cool Washington State-
Myself I don't "compost", just throw in pile for a year, cover with tarp and let area set for a couple years, then turn it and plant, go to next area which has another tarp. The racoons seem to enjoy turning it for me-lol I dig a hole in it once in a while for their "treats".
My friend, which is a landscaper (mows lawns), has tons to compost, he made a lean-to against his barn to keep rain out and goes out and turns thoughout the winter. He is building another this year for the "hot" stuff, green grass and chick droppings. I get "presents" each spring-two to three garbage cans full of nice fluffly dirt for my raised beds.
He made me a screen box to "sift" the presents-I just love it. I put seeds in beds, then put the sifter over area and sift away-nice fluffy dirt gently covering the seeds.
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Post by Rovingarcher on Feb 3, 2005 10:07:02 GMT -5
Hi Chuck, I have a cold frame I built beside my compost bin.Several inches down in the soil, I have black poly pipe that goes to my compost bin,filled with water.I can turn my compost weekly, and keep enough heat produced, to keep my soil in the cold frame to 65-70 degreesI have about a dozen coils in the comp bin.It is a sealed system.Great way to raise all your own bedding plants starting in March.GR
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Post by smwon on Feb 4, 2005 17:44:22 GMT -5
I have been wanting to use the bio-greenhouse that I found in Mother Earth News, years ago... www.motherearthnews.com/arc/6033/ and I want a bucket sawdust composting toilet... hummm wonder how it all would work in Ak... Linda |
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kritter
Cheechako
Cheechako
Posts: 8
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Post by kritter on Apr 23, 2005 23:55:28 GMT -5
just built me a compost box today and got a good start on a pile, was time to clean out from under the bunny pen, not done yet, gonna have a nice mix this year, hay, bunny do, and sawdust mix, tossed some fish bones off in there today too, burried for good measure and less stink. put it right beside the bunny house and three will be a greenhouse on the other side of that, all set nicely in a row and at the end of the garden so i dont have to go far to get it all done. built the box out of slabs from my sawmill, so waste nothing.and spend nothing. wastenot wantnot. ;D
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Post by Freeholdfarm on Apr 24, 2005 14:06:31 GMT -5
I built a compost bin out of pallets. Right now it just has three pallets. I need to close up the open side with one more, as a stray dog has been getting in to the pile. Then we just dump everything in the pile. I usually cover the fresh deposit with peat, or sawdust if I have it, and in summer have to frequently moisten the pile or it will dry out too much (we have almost no rain here from early June to the middle of October). This pile will sit for a couple of years before we use it for anything. When the first bin is full I'll build another next to it. I don't turn the piles or anything, just keep them covered with peat or sawdust, and keep them moist.
I'll make another pile by the goat shelters for the bedding from their pens, or just use the bedding straight on the garden as mulch.
Kathleen
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Post by smwon on Nov 17, 2005 22:05:11 GMT -5
I've always made my compost bins from pallets as well. In Arkansas I made one bin for my toilet and it was about 4' x 4'... simple and easy! When I was in Oregon the pallets were 4'x8' and I just made one huge bin from them, 8'x8'x4'... worked quite well. I thought it was totally amazing how fast the material shrank.
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Post by pipedreams on Jan 16, 2006 10:26:29 GMT -5
I tried several different methods of composting in the interior and none of them worked............something about being frozen solid 8 months of the year.........and real cold the other 4 I guess.......  The last summer I was on my homestead there was a little compsting taking place on the stuff that had been there for seven seasons...............it's a slow process at best in this neck of the woods.... |
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Post by Chuck on Jan 16, 2006 10:37:41 GMT -5
Boy thats the truth if isn't frozen its soaked. I think we have tried about everything and nothing seems to work with any consistency.
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