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I’m the proud momma of a brand new … wait … wait for it … compost bin! And though it isn’t the most beautiful one in the world, it’s the kind of super-functional composting system I have always dreamed of. (And yes, I do actually dream about strange stuff like compost bins …)
As I wrote in a previous post, we have gotten in the habit of pitching stuff over the fence because our previous compost pile was at the back of our property. No one likes to lug debris so far, far away. So, I was at my favorite local nursery a month or so ago and saw a bunch of empty pallets that were used to store bags of mulch just sitting in a pile waiting to be burned. I asked them if I could have seven pallets and they said I could take as many as I wanted. Initially, I thought about grabbing several more just in case, but I held back with a mere seven. They even delivered them to our driveway. (For free!! Now you see why they are my favorite nursery!)
Once home, they were loaded onto the tractor cart and piled up behind the veggie garden along the split rail fence. In relatively short order (meaning two or three weeks later, which is pretty good around here) they were erected into a standing three bin composting system. We used plastic zip ties to hold them together and plan to screw a piece of lumber across the top of all three supports to add a bit more stability. (This single-compartment compost bin was built in a similar way.)
As you can see, I have already started to fill the first bin. The idea is to fill the first bin ’til it’s full, then turn it over into the second space. Fill the first bin again, and when it’s full, turn the second into the third and the first into the second. By the time the first bin is full again, the third bin should be ready to empty. That’ s the idea, anyway. I’m just so excited about it that I might actually try to do it right this time.
