What are some ways you compost and how well does it work?

We made 2 tumblers out of olive barrels (just like a pickle barrel only the label said olives lol)
They work great. They work faster and better now that we have added red wigglers to the barrels.
We filled the first one before adding the red wigglers and it took almost a year before we got the wonderful black gold from it.
while that one was cooking we filled the second one then added the red wigglers. We keep red wigglers in both now and get great compost about every 6 months.
The two barrels were enough until we added chickens and rabbits to our lil Suburban ranch.

Panda wrote:
I had built a barrel as well and it worked great:) I ended up getting black soldier flies and that started me on another project!

Here is info on the flies and there larva:
www.homefarmideas.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11:black-soldier-fly&catid=50:beneficials

And here is how I used them to break down waste and feed my chickens all at once!
www.homefarmideas.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19:black-soldier-fly-composter&catid=50:beneficials

These are in the articles area. You can find everything you want to know on them at the top of the page here. Search box:)

Matt

our compost bins with a lil snow on them.
We drilled holes at the bottom of the bins and placed buckets under them and we use the drippings to put on our plants as a tea...
In the summer we make compost tea... that is a whole other topic lol

I love the idea of the drip buckets! not letting any of that goodness go to waste

My composting consists of an open to the air double bin composter made with standard 8' dimensional lumber, although this year I had to build a lid for it out of recycled wire fencing and lumber, the raccoon's were making a mess of it all the time. Basically it's 8'long, 4'high,and 4'wide with 1/2"hardware cloth for all the side's and divider between the two bin's. I know it's probably not the most efficient of systems, but it seems to work well enough. One thing I have found is since it sit's directly on the ground, and I use a lot of shredded leaves as the basis for my compost, the leaf worm's find it all on their own, so that's one less thing I have to do, introduce worms. another thing I like about this type of system is it does pretty well all on it's own, I never seem to have enough time to turn the pile as much as I should, but I still get some nice worm poop infused composted goodness to spread on my garden every spring

Panda wrote:

I'm loving it Panda:) I have some questions though, it seems from the picture there is not a lot of holes in your compost barrels. Doesn't the veggie scraps etc. get a little anaerobic in there? I think you would need more holes so that you can properly compost.

I personally leave things in a pile then after four or five months I bury it in my garden beds about a foot deep where continues to compost.

HFI_Matt wrote:
Where the bar goes through the sides of the barrels it allows enough airflow. There are also holes drilled in the bottom of the barrels and they get turned maybe once or twice a week. They seem to be working great and the end result has been beautiful with out stink lol

During the first part of summer I opened the barrel we were using at the time and a bunch of fruit flies came flying out and silly me was wondering how did they get in there? Then I remembered the big ole holes in the side of the barrels. The nice thing is I never got fruit flies inside the house this year but they stayed out in the barrels and helped to break down the compost. Just another time when the problem became the solution.

Panda wrote:
Ah, okay:) That will work for sure! The image does not show all that. Bugs are always a benefit as long as they stay outside! Ha ha ha!

My compost bin consist of four free pallets bound together with plastic ties. ( They build those things out of hard wood!) I took a half pallet on the front for a door. I cover the top with a sheet from an old tent, fits perfect. The ingredients I put in there are Kitchen scraps from my Sis's kitchen and my own. Chicken poop mixed with wood chips, fresh grass clippings and leaves in the fall. Soldier flies lay their eggs when it cools down, worms come in and all kinds of other little creatures. It "ain't pretty, but it's mine! In the spring it smells like good fresh soil! BTW If your compost stinks it's out of balance, and needs some oxygen. Working compost does not have a negative odor.