I wanted to start composting in my back yard, but I needed the right container for it. My ideal setup was a plastic 50-gallon drum, but after weeks of regularly checking all the best dumpsters in town, I had turned up nothing. I was ready to give into the man and actually BUY one. No sooner had I given up, I was out on a ride and happened upon one in a ditch along the road.
I didn't have the right bike to carry it at the time so I sped home to grab my hauling bike and retrieve my new compost bucket.
To keep it from tipping over, I tied it to the fence in the corner of my yard with an old inner tube. I just leave it open to the air which seems to work pretty well. I also got a little hoe that I keep in there so I can turn it over each time I deposit new material. My understanding is that by keeping the compost aerated, it will go a lot faster.
how fortuitous that the plastic ice cream tub had been labeled "compost" by the previous owners!
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you just roll the drum to aerate? Hoeing is tiring work...
ReplyDeleteThe original idea behind having a drum was to aerate by rolling. I was imagining something like a bingo cage but I couldn't come up with a lid that would seal the stuff in whilst the drum was on its side, so for now I just use the hoe.
ReplyDeletecompost bucket with tight lid can be as funky as hell and not stink out the kitchen.
ReplyDeletecompost bucket with "sourdough stater" mix of molds WILL stink buy it gets things off to fast start.
that would be "starter" but if the whole darn Rocky mountain news can go out of business, a typo here and there is just going to have to suffice as our new standard.
ReplyDeleteI just hauled 50 gallons of anaerobically composted slop [it FINALLY got above freezing here] to the compost bins and turned them. What is your solution for freezing? That stops composting in its tracks.
1) 'stater' wasn't your only typo: buy -> but
ReplyDelete2) It's dry enough here that I need to add water to mine, so I just pour on hot water and stir. But it definitely does slow down in the winter. You could try a more insulated solution... I have some ideas about that.