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Posted By: ND farm girl My husband's winter project - September 12th, 2006 at 05:48 PM
I started a bin made of palets in my backyard this summer, but I want one of those 'expensive' tumblers. My husband looked at it and said "I can make one." We farm, so of course I have to wait until harvest is over and the machinery is put to sleep for the winter, but I found this and thought I'd share.

compost barrel project
Posted By: plantqueen Re: My husband's winter project - September 12th, 2006 at 09:03 PM
Wow! Will he make one for me too??? laugh laugh
Posted By: weezie13 Re: My husband's winter project - September 12th, 2006 at 09:47 PM
I'm next...
That one's AWWWESOME!!
Posted By: patches1414 Re: My husband's winter project - September 13th, 2006 at 06:56 AM
Boy, that is really nice and it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to make. Duh I'm sure you could really cook up some quick compost in that one. wink wink
Posted By: johnCT Re: My husband's winter project - September 14th, 2006 at 09:32 PM
That's a great illustration! It's interesting, but I think the one main drawback of those is just hard to overcome. Two actually. It doesn't hold enough(for me) and unless you stop adding to it, it will never be 100% finished. I'm moving my pallet compost bins and when I lifted them up last weekend, the bottom boards were rotted almost completely. Probably gonna build a nice three bin system out of PT wood this weekend or next.

Maybe your DH can make three for you! wink
Posted By: weezie13 Re: My husband's winter project - September 14th, 2006 at 10:14 PM
That would be an awesome idea John thumbup ....
Posted By: Longy Re: My husband's winter project - September 14th, 2006 at 11:07 PM
I'm with John. Nice idea but it's a bit of a toy. Go for massive volumes if you want to make a difference. More is better. Trendy is just a buck squeeze.
Posted By: weezie13 Re: My husband's winter project - September 14th, 2006 at 11:39 PM
I have to say though, any one with a small yard or small area to compost the "regular way"....
This sure is a good way to compost, and beats the heck outta throwing good stuff away....
Something is always wayyyyyyy better than nothin'! thumbup flw
Posted By: ND farm girl Re: My husband's winter project - September 17th, 2006 at 07:26 AM
Ye - you are right. I made a compost bin to start out with out back by the grain bins, and I'm having a hard time remembering to go out there and turn it over - any ideas? I'm going to make 2 more bins next year, so that will help because I keep adding to the 1 bin I have. By the way - what do I do this winter? Just put a tarp or something over it or can it get snow on it?

My hubby will be glad he has 1 less honey-do-project this winter. I'll find something else for him to do I'm sure!
Posted By: EricDerek Re: My husband's winter project - October 10th, 2006 at 03:51 AM
You can do something or nothing. Last fall I made a "bin" which was really only 5 wooden pallets in the shape of a "W" or "M". Nothing fancy, no tumbler, etc.

I filled it up with mulched tree leaves and a little grass clippings. I think I put a tarp on it.

Bought this:http://tinyurl.com/k79yq for about $20. Filled it with table scraps. Every few days (or weeks) I would dump the compost bucket.

Not much seemed to be happening over the winter (the stuff sort of froze). I tried turning it every 2-4 weeks.

Spring came. Some new grass clippings. And things started to really heat up. Suddenly, I have steam, worms, bugs, things breaking down, etc. Over the summer I continued adding grass clippings and stuff from the compost bucket. I got some rocks and twigs and branches in there by accident also.

I didn't get to use it this summer because other work got in the way of my lawn/garden projects. Right now I have about 2-3 cubic yards of stuff. When the leaves fall, I am just going to add them on top and take it from there.

I think this is the "normal" way. And, I have lots of stuff. Should help tremendously once I am ready to actually get to work on the gardens.
Posted By: weezie13 Re: My husband's winter project - October 10th, 2006 at 04:01 AM
EricDerek,

Your URL http://tinyurl.com/k79yq didn't work..
(Wellllllll, shocked wink it does now) wink thumbup flw
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