Compost

I'm just back in from adding my rabbit's daily contributions to the compost bin for today. Earlier this summer I replaced my disintegrating compost bin made from wooden pallets with a new closed plastic one. This is in addition to the rotating composter. The rotating bin produces compost much faster than a static bin, but you can't keep adding new material throughout the process. So I put the new stuff daily into the static bin, and then as each batch in the rotating composter is finished and removed, I move a new batch from the static bin into the rotating one.

Because of my allergy to mold, I have to be careful when stirring or moving compost. I wear a dust mask, and cover my hair with a scarf. When I'm done, I go in and change my clothes, washing the scarf and clothes immediately.

It's good I replaced the old compost bin. Besides the decomposition of the wooden pallets, the open structure let mold spores out all over the place. Also, it was a real pain getting the finished compost out. The new bin has doors at the bottom that slide open, which should make it much easier.

In addition to these two primary compost bins, I have a couple of large wheeled Rubbermaid trash cans that I use to collect fall leaves. I drilled many fairly large holes in these, to let air through. Since whole leaves break down slowly, after I rake the leaves I grind them in my garden vac, then put them into the leaf bins until I am ready to add them to the rotating bin, mixed in with kitchen scraps, hair, and other materials.

When I bought this house, and first began a garden here, I found that the soil was such a heavy clay, that when dry baked hard as concrete. After years of adding compost every year to garden beds, it has improved it a great deal.