Confessions of a new compost addict...:)

Ok...I'm in a really bad way!!

I started off doing silly things to my poor raised bed...like putting tons of hardwood mulch in the middle layers of it..which sucked all the nitrogen out of the bed...(didn't know this..but do now...LOL!). So I came to Dave's and asked for help..and thx again for all the help I got from you folks..:)

But now...I'm in real trouble...LOL! I bought a Biostack and an extra kitchen trash can(for scraps and such) and I've gone nuts playing with the compost!! I was up half of one night finding every piece of plain cardboard in the house to shred, I'm camping the mailbox waiting for junk mail to add to the shredder, waiting for the lawn to grow so I can get more clippings...and this morning I finally went completely over the edge...!!

I was walking around the fence near the raised bed...and noticed some little piles...well...we have a herd of bunnies that runs through the yard...and you guessed it! They are bunnie poo piles...!! And so I'm out there with the dog-pooper scooper, scooping up bunnie poo to add to the compost pile...!! REALLY!!!! I think I've lost it!!

And I owe all this to finding Dave's Garden forum....:)

>wiping tear from eye<

I'm so proud of you!

*sniff*!

When you think of it, you're doing a multi-pronged favor - putting your garbage to good use, keeping it out of the landfill, improving your soil and therefore your plants which improves both aesthetically and ecologically, and perhaps improving your own health through better eating and all the exercise you're gonna get turning that pile! It's a great thing, really.

The shine will wear off (a little; but it's become such a habit with me that I take trash home now when there's no place to compost or recycle!) but I think the rewards will keep you committed. Congrats!

Welcome to Dave's Garden! And, yes. You are hooked...

hehe...thx both of ya...:) And pagancat...you are definitely right about the exercise part...that's one of the reasons I'm doing all the garden stuff..is to help rehab myself. Many years ago I worked alot with show and race horses...I was what you'd call an "equine valet"...LOL! I cleaned stalls, groomed, exercised, etc...so I've seen more shovels and wheelbarrows than I care to count...and yeah...loading the compost bin the other day brought back some rather fond memories...:)

As an update...I don't have a compost thermometer yet..but man...that pile is steamy...:) I wet it this morning again..and by afternoon it was really warm...gonna let it dry some tomorrow and will turn it Thursday probably.

Excellent! Sounds like it's cooking, good job!

I am currently an "equine maid "- have dropped 15 lbs since I brought my horses to my home this March. Jes' me, my apple picker and a wheelbarrow. Thankfully, I have no stalls or I'd melt away... it's so hard to let all this recycled alfalfa and timothy go back onto the pasture instead of into my bin... *sigh* ...

Let me know if you need to get back into it again, lol!

I may get back into sooner than later...sister-in-law has 2 miniature horses and has said..sure come over and pick any "apples" you want from the pasture....LOL!!

LOL - I have 5 and a foal - two of them are Shire crosses, so bring a BIG picker if you come!

Cool..Shires are AWESOME...such big, sweet babies..:) My fav breed is Hanoverian...they are warmbloods from Europe...very calm but extremely athletic...I worked with them in Winston-Salem, NC at a dressage stable. Also worked with quarter horse racehorses, polo ponies down in Texas and even worked with a thoroughbred breeding farm for awhile.

Ah, yes - I love the big warmbloods. There's a gal on the Equine forum who has a beautiful gray Hanoverian, did some pretty high level dressage with him in MD.

Another gal there claims that my home is the Pagancat ranch for spoiled ponies, but that's merely an opinion on her part. They're simply highly thought of, that's all!

I do love horses, with very little discretion or reservation.

UPDATE!

Turned pile this morning...man I'm tired...LOL!! But we had a good head of steam off that pile!! It smelled good and earthy like a fresh batch of horse manure..minus the ammonia scent. The green grass clippings didn't goo up..but were softened and turning brown..which I hope means that it's leaching the nitrogen back into my bad soil. Saw only one bug at the very top when I opened the bin...looked like a small wood roach. I also noticed that the soil looked "cleaner"..may of just been the wet...but I didn't see much of the fungus/mold stuff from the original pile. The remaining hardwood mulch seems to be breaking down too, wasn't nearly as recognizable.

Now that I know I've got a good system here, I may go back and get one more Biostack and see if they have a compost thermometer as well. That way I can load the 2nd bin with the rest of the bad bed soil and next week's clippings and then let them both cook for a few weeks while I get the other beds ready.

If I can get a load of compost from Corinth and cut my compost with that I should be able to fill 2 or 3 beds...hopefully. Then I may grab a couple of cups of worms from the bait shop and dump into the beds so they can help even more over the winter.

Then I get to finish all the fencing....LOL!! Once it cools down some...!!

LOL - addict!!!

Sounds like me, minus the horses now... got kicked bad in 1979 broke my arm in 5 places along with some internal bleeding.. now I have major hardware in my left forearm. I worked with racehorses.. We had a swim ranch for therapy. I was never so fit in my life and I wasn't the one swimming! LOL
Now that I'm older and slower and am addicted to brugs and gardening, I just started composting and I'm so tickled when it's time to turn my biostack.. I want another one... I love it!
Thank you to all for sharing.. your info was very helpful to get my "pile" cookin. :)

Glad to help...it's been an adventure for sure so far! I did get the second Biostack and will have it filled soon with the remainder of the original screwed-up soil. My first batch in the Biostack will be about ready to turn back into the original bed soon...(really just waiting on the horrific heat to settle down some). I also figure the second batch will be finished about the time the leaves start falling so I'll be composting bigtime right through the winter. I'm also making a 4x4x3ft leaf bin out of chicken wire...to stash the extra stuff waiting to go into the composter. Having two of them is already making things easier for sure.

wolflrv: I got my first Biostack late summer or fall of last year, and added the second this spring. It is great having two. I use one for active compost and the other for stuff that I just want to have sit and mature. Usually I put everything through 2 or 3 hot cycles before turning into the curing bin.

Also, since there is less volume in the curing bin, I have been known to add an extra tier to the active one when a lot of material is available. I love having 2 of them.

Karen

Howdy Neighbor - I'm between you and Corinth on Highway 2! I've been an addict for a while -- that's how I got into chickens, too -- good source of nitrogen. Wish I had some horses, sheep, and bison (but I don't need any broken bones)! I've been using scrap pallets (40"x48") for bins and have been blowing shredded leaves against the fence and using for mulch. How do you do fencing (when it cools down ... below 100 would be nice)? - ARG! Joe

LOL..hey Joe! Yeah..waiting for weather to cool down is the first requirement before I get back out in the garden much. As far as my "leaf bin" I plan to use the 3ft tall chicken wire that I am tearing out from the first garden bed that didn't do well. I have the 4ft metal stakes and will just build in a box or two on 3 sides and I plan on using a 3x3ft PVC gate that I made as a door for the bin, to keep wandering dogs and such out of it. Dogs are a huge problem around here. At least 6-8 wander through my yard on a daily basis. I'm looking at the green plastic mesh fencing (at Lowe's)..and will probably end up fencing off the entire growing area and possibly my stock plant area too. I'm fed up with the dogs..and the rabbits are fairly plentiful too. And I'm worried when I start getting some tasty stock plants out, if I may have some trouble with deer too...as there is a herd of them across the road in the woods. If it turns out that I need to...I also may trench in some barrier boards along the bottom or even bury some cinderblocks...dunno yet...will depend on the critters.

I also thought about using hog panel and posts, but our local co-op doesn't carry anything except the 6x6 box panel and when I added it up, it was just too much money to start out. Plus the dimensions on my area are such that I'd end up having to cut the panels. I'm really hoping just a "visual" border will keep most of the critters out though.

Believe it or not I haven't been putting paper products in mine, but you got me hooked too. I sat -a+nd shredded cereal boxes last /*night. No one will know what those celephone padkages with cereal in them are, but that's okay. We all need a surprise now and then.
I was afraid to put coffee filters in there

Good for you Lorraine!! And ohhh yeah..I put tons of coffee filters and grounds in my pile...no problem! If you really want to make it easy for shredding..go down to Office Depot and grab one of their inexpensive shredding machines. Mine is by Ativa and will even do compact discs and credit cards..(but don't compost those...LOL!). I think I remember paying about $16 for it. I preshred all my cardboard stuff and it composts easily that way. Even cardboard boxes from Amazon and such. I'm still leery of pizza boxes..since folks say they have clay in the cardboard or something...but I may try them too and just sift it out later if it doesn't compost.

The two things right now that aren't composting well within a month or two are eggshells and sweet-n-low packets. The eggshells we just aren't grinding up enough before they go in. I also suspect the sweet-n-low packets may have some sort of plastic coating or something. Gonna leave them a bit longer...but they really stand out in the pile..being pink and all...LOL!

I'm also about to invest in an inexpensive chipper/shredder that I found on Harbor Freight. I have tons of brush and such that I'm clearing to make way for my new beds and fall is coming and I want to be ready to crank out the compost.

I had a chipper once and was amazed at how little it would do - perhaps they're a little tougher now. It seemed like a perfect thing to have around, if only it worked!

You might wanna try Splenda packs, they blend in a little better, lol.

I have a 8.5 hp MTD Chipper shredder that I've had for 15 years that I'm happy with. I did have to replace the motor for $300 last year (ouch!) but I found one that fit the bill. Looking at the new ones, I'm not sure if they'll work on corn stocks, vines, ginger and other stringy materilas. I lot of the stuff needs a extra push with a stick of bamboo or sunflower stock cuz it tend to bunch-up/wrap the center bolt on the rotor. On the new ones, they don't give you a clear shot to the rotor due to people sticking hands in them (I guess). I also removed the screen on the discharge for the same reason. I still have all my fingers (so far). For big trees and branches, I have a DR CHIPPER (up to 3" diameter) ($$$) that blows the chips into the back of the pick-em-up truck and I have an EZ LOADER to unload them in the garden.

The first step in fighting addiction is admitting you have a problem and asking for help - hopefully before bankruptcy or amputation (LOL)!

PS: Disabling safety devices is a good way to get hurt. I never installed the blade guard on my tablesaw, either . . . . My DW almost got hurt on the chipper and doesn't use it anymore. A friend at work tore up his hand on the table saw and had to take medical retirement. Don't do as I do, please! I may be regretting it someday.

I really hope not!!!

Me too (LOL)!!! I try not to combine SOFERDIG's methods when working around fast moving blade and my bare hands! http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/soferdig/3149/

Not recommended for power tools!

LOL - now that's a man who loves his compost...

I'm quite sure it looks like Soferdig's having WAY more fun in his compost pile than I am...but alas...you might find an empty coffee cup in mine...LOL...been sober now for almost 20 years...:) So I guess I'll have to get my jollies with my shredder...MUHAHAHA!!! No really...!! Most of my brush and leaves I could probably do with a Cuisineart..but it would take forever...no big branches and such. With a 400ft long ditch running the full length of my property, I get lots of tall brush....I take it down with the trimmer mostly, but need a way to make it compost a bit quicker.

I really am glad I'm doing this compost thing though...it saves numerous hauls to the dump and I get free soil out of it...which is just cool any way you want to look at it!! Now...if I could just figure out something to do with the plastic...I'd shred that and use it too!!

Congratulations on your 20 years.

Now back away from the shredder... lol.

I MUST HAVE COMPOST!! LOL!!

wolflrv: I have my bunny in a cage and I just bought a shredder. Ive been stuffing un-glossy paper to shred in a plastic sack. Last night my puppy found the unshredded paper and shredded most of it for me -- all over the floor. Now when am I going to get to use my new shredder???

Run to your neighbors house!

gloria....just re-shred all the paper...it will compost quicker and you'll feel really good listening to your shredder grind away!! LOL!!

Pagan...I am thinking about working a deal with my neighbor this fall...just tell him to dump his leaves over the fence and I'll take care of them....LOL!!

There ya go - seriously, when you think about needing that high of a ratio in brown material in order to get a pile really cooking, you can probably ask the whole neighborhood to give up their leaves ... and their newspapers.... and junk mail... and Sweet n' Low paks!

BTW, I wonder if you get them wet before putting them in if it would help them to break down faster.... ?

My neighbors used to haul in every bag of leaves they could find in the fall. After a few years, their garden (the entire back yard) was at least 6 inches higher than our yard. They would spread them and till them in a bit before winter, then till again in the spring. They had one honey of a tiller, not like my little bitty baby tiller.

Hey now, you should see MY tiller!
>pagancat, flexing her mighty - ha! - arms.....