Compost Happens

We used to have a large garden that that required a lot of compost. I had a four-bin system in which I rotated the compost in various stages. When we got horses we converted most of the garden space to something the horses could use and the photo above is the shed I built to compost the horse manure.



Since then new gardens are springing up around here, so we started to compost on a smaller scale. We got a 55 gallon drum with an latch-able top, drilled holes in it for ventilation and carved in a door that opens to put things in it. I built a stand with casters so the barrel can be rolled in place to stir it all up. However this system is difficult to maintain when you have too much or too little material to compost.

We got a tip that Ocean Spray on the Long Beach Peninsula is rotating out some old cranberry boxes. They have stacks of them they are giving away. The sides are attached to one another by stapled in straps and they fold flat for transport. You can get about ten boxes on a pick-up truck.



Simply open the boxes up and you have instant compost bins. We are going to cut out the front panels to make it easier to move the contents from one bin to the next.






Now all I need to do is place some sort of hinged cover on them to control the moisture intake from the rain.