New Compost Bin

We have decided to move our compost bin from it current location at the back of the garden, to a new location in the chicken yard.

The current location is convenient to the garden, for moving finished compost, but it is not convenient for building the stack with raw materials, or soaking it, because there is no water hydrant on that side of the garden.

So we are moving it into the chicken yard, convenient to the chicken coop, the barn and the pig pen.

This will provide an easy source of poop and carbon, and we only have to move the wheelbarrows a few feet, instead of 50 yards (through gates and around garden rows, raspberries and elderberries).

Not much got done last week, despite having great helpers, because it started raining mid-morning and didn’t let up the rest of the day.

And also, the fill dirt that we got here had large chunks of concrete that kept getting in the way of the posts. Of course this is a temporary structure. This is all scrap plywood that we had lying around, and none of it is treated. It will all rot away in 5 years or so. By then we will know if we like this location, and if so we can build something more permanent.

Looks like a stew. Some assembly required.

School needs to be done, but it’s hard when men with heavy equipment are doing work right outside the window.

Ultimately ended up braising the lamb neck for about an hour, then had to leave to take two of the kids to a make-up swimming lesson. So we took the pot with us, and set it on the stove at home.

Taste was fabulous, Lamb with carrots, turnips and barley. The only thing I would change is probably hold off on the turnips until about 10 minutes before serving, so they still have some crunch to them.

Despite the gray and the cold, check it out! Willow is budding.

Mr. Sep is getting good at reading, better by leaps and bounds.

We now have the barn/shop area so it can be closed off. This allows us to graze the ruminants around the out buildings. They are better than a lawn mower and burn less gas. Also quieter.

And friendlier.

Friday got back to the compost bins. The thing they were missing was mainly a way to fill them without having to go into the chicken yard, because it’s a hassle to get a loaded wheelbarrow around the corner between the two gates, without leaving the gates open long enough to let the chickens out.

Now there is a trap door, 3×3 1/2 ft, that swings out, props up with a specially designed* length of stick.

And we can just toss compost into the first bind from the outside, and let the chickens scratch in it for us. There is a hose right there so we can soak it down as well to keep it adequately hydrated in the summer months.

So we’ll see how this works over the next couple of years.

*Not specially designed at all. I found it lying on the ground outside the barn.