composting

[Trying2keepitReal]

One goal this year at our homestead is setting up a functioning compost area. I have been looking at plans for squares and round/cylinder types. I like the "looks" of the cylinder but how do you turn the mixture? I also saw and liked a strawbale structured one, but wondering if it will invite more mice/rats/etc? Any helpful tips, wish you would have knowns, etc would be welcome. I have never composted before as I have always just gathered from our local farm but now with my own chickens I figured I might as well try.

**My plan is to add worms as well once it gets started.

 

[The Porch]

Steve has a great chapter section on composting,

Composting is like fermentation

I have mine open, on the ground. I make different piles, I want the ratios balanced




kitchen scraps
garden stuff the chickens didnt eat
grass clippings
forest floor pine needles/ dirt/ forest mulch
chicken poop
and a good soil pile
and sand is good to have


a big mixing pile - here I layer stuff
a big cooking pile
a big done ready to use pile

I have used bins build with pallets, but it was to hard to get in and turn them

[a few things I underlined in the chapter]
>Compost needs time to decompose
>vegetables need to assimilate a goodly portion of their nutrients from decomposing microorganisms
>putting enough soil in the heap to support the bacteria types is more important than putting in manure or other strong sources of nitrogen


this is how I do it,

 

[Chic Rustler]

compost is life here. i use a few pallets screwed together for my pile. i also trench compost in the garden. or sometimes ill just throw the scraps in the garden while the chickens are in there.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

very informative. How long does it take, generally speaking, for it to cook down enough to be used? and how many do you get started 1 or 2?

 

[The Porch]

very informative. How long does it take, generally speaking, for it to cook down enough to be used? and how many do you get started 1 or 2?

Like on the new property, I won't have any ready to use until maybe fall, at the time I'll be adding a winter feeding to the garden. So if I am able to get all the new garden ready by no later than April 1 I am going to have to truck in cow or horse poop to turn in with the soil of the new area.

So I am going to be starting at least 3 piles to hopefully be used in the fall, and have 3 more started in Oct to be used in the spring of 23

 

[tortoise]

Y'all are inspiring me. I stopped composting when we moved to this farm. Food scraps go to chickens or goats. Problem is, if they go to the goats, I don't get anything out of them. We don't eat the goats (2 wethered pasture pets), and we don't collect goat poo, they spread it on their pasture. I prefer to give scraps to the chickens. I figure anything they don't eat will attract bugs, and they'll eat the bugs, and the rest will decompose in the litter and end up in the garden someday. Problem with that is RATS.

Might be time to start a compost bin of some kind.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

Like on the new property, I won't have any ready to use until maybe fall, at the time I'll be adding a winter feeding to the garden. So if I am able to get all the new garden ready by no later than April 1 I am going to have to truck in cow or horse poop to turn in with the soil of the new area.

So I am going to be starting at least 3 piles to hopefully be used in the fall, and have 3 more started in Oct to be used in the spring of 23

This sounds like a good plan-3 piles. I might reach out for help, guidance and wisdom

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

Y'all are inspiring me. I stopped composting when we moved to this farm. Food scraps go to chickens or goats. Problem is, if they go to the goats, I don't get anything out of them. We don't eat the goats (2 wethered pasture pets), and we don't collect goat poo, they spread it on their pasture. I prefer to give scraps to the chickens. I figure anything they don't eat will attract bugs, and they'll eat the bugs, and the rest will decompose in the litter and end up in the garden someday. Problem with that is RATS.

Might be time to start a compost bin of some kind.

This is where I am at....I don't want rats but I want to be able turn the compost with ease and use the natural ground as a base not a plastic bin. Gotta think on this.

 

[Okiepan]

All I do is fill the tractor bucket up with after product's from the horses and cows, and chickens , I then pile it up to "cook " occasionally work the bucket by turning it , and after a while 1 year I have great compost for the orchard and cold frames .
We use the chicken by products and fill big totes with 15-20 lbs of poop add 100-150 gallons of water and make chicken tea which is an amazing fertilizer.

 

[Chic Rustler]

length of time to finished conpost depends on the way you run the pile. a hot compost pile (search youtube for it) will finish in a few weeks. i use a cold pile and when the bin gets full i start filling the other bin. the next spring i enpty the bi that filled and keep filling the other bin. 2 bins seems to work well for me. it probably gets watered every couple months or so. i dont really mess with it much.