Sorry for the time our last post - I'm here with a quick post on how-to build your own quick, cheap, big and simple compost bin. Its been almost three months or so since Sara and I lived in a house with a compost and, for most of that time, we've been saving our food scraps in the freezer. Why? Well, I'd like to keep the ranting to a low level for this post but, in short, we think food scraps (and the nutrients they contain) belong in a state of decomposition (returning the nutrients into the cycle) instead of in a land fill (decomposition doesn't really happen because of a lack of oxygen). I know that was 10 gallons of argument in a 5 gallon sentence but I'd like to revisit it in a different post.
But if you're already convinced you want a compost heap and don't want to spend big bucks (i.e. you want to build one yourself one instead of purchasing one of the many, many, many pre-built options), then you've come to the right place.
For this compost bin you'll only need:
- 4 wood pallets
- hardware cloth (something like chicken wire - just with smaller holes).
Tools:
- Hammer
- Nails (both a larger size, like 3'', and a smaller size, like 1'') - specific sizes are not important
- Wire clippers (or plyers with a wire-snipping area)
- Work gloves (optional)
Compost features:
- Enclosure to hold food scraps, lawn waste, weeds, etc (some people avoid dairy, just about everyone avoid putting meat)
- Some space for air to ventilate through from the sides
- Some space for worms to wiggle up through from the bottom (option - decomposition can happen without worms, but they are the best decomposers)
- Protection from rats, badgers, etc. One or two rodents snacking isn't the end of the world but I've heard horror stories of compost heaps becoming rat nests and thats dangerous to the people around because rodents often carry diseases).
- Movable forth wall so we can turn the compost over every couple weeks without too much trouble and take out the finished compost when its done.
Collect four pallets - these are used for shipping and many stories would be happy for you to take them away. We got ours free from a garden shop, but they usually have plenty of extra ones behind any big box store, hardware store, etc. Just ask someone behind the counter or in the warehouse/back room.
Assemble at 90 degrees - there are a number of ways to do it and I didn't have the patience to do the more sturdy of those ways. Nailing the corners togethers worked okay and I also used bailing wire to hold the shaky angles. With more time, a nailed down piece of wood across the top of the corner would have been much more secure.
This is bailing wire around the corners. For the forth wall, I did not nail it at all - I only secured it with wire on all four corners so I could remove it when needed (to mix or remove the compost).
Why mix it? Mixing brings air in (read on for why the compost needs air) and I think there are other reasons, I just can't remember them right now.
Here is how I attached the hardware cloth (wire mesh) - which will let in worms through the bottom but will (hopefully) keep out rats, raccoons and other food-scrap-eating-animals.
This is a closeup of the wire being nailed up - I put each nail in about half way and then hammer at an angle to bend it over and secure the wire. Also - you'll use the wire clippers here to separate pieces of wire and you may want work gloves because the clipped wire can be really sharp and hard to handle.
Close(r) up
This is Sara testing out the bin so far. If its cozy enough for Sara, its cozy enough for our food scraps.
I made some extra cuts into the corner, placed it where I wanted and used a combination of my foot and a hammer to mold the wire into the corner and secured it with bent-over nails. (Note: hammer and foot should take turns and not be used at the same time).
This is a shot of the finished hardware cloth - it only goes up 2 feet from the ground, I think thats enough to keep out most animals but more would be good too.
While I was building this, I said to Sara, 'I feel like I'm building an animal cage' and she said 'You are, you're building a rat cage' - which is a good way to think about it (to keep rats out, in case of any confusion out there).
This is the finished bin - its much larger than many that I've seen - but the free pallets dictated the size. If you weren't being so cheap, I would say the idea size is about that of an oil drum. Remember you need to access to the compost inside to turn it (with a pitch fork or garden rake).
Here Sara is putting in our saved up food scraps.
Tip: You don't need to go outside every time you peel an orange - take a container or tupperwear (yogurt containers work well) and put it in the freezer. Food scraps won't get moldy or smell in the freezer while they wait for you to take them outside. They also don't decompose at all so time spent in the freezer is
not time spent decomposing.
What is Sara dumping in there? Onion scraps, melon rinds, orange peels, old couscous, tea bags (with no staples), banana peels, corn cobs, coffee grounds, etc. Anything that once came from the earth can go back to it and doesn't really have a place in the landfill.
Some people don't use dairy because it causes mold and attracts rodents moreso than vegetable scraps, but I also know some people that do. I don't know anyone that would put meat, just because its bound to attract the wrong kind of crowd and breed diseases (and smell).
On top of our food scraps we put weeds that we recently pulled up from our soon-to-be-herb garden. Weeds made a great addition to a compost pile because they degrade quickly and they bring in the kind of microorganisms we want in there - decomposers. Other candidates: leaves, cut grass, and hay.
Some FAQs:
How do I know if its 'working'?
Well, if its warm on the very inside (its your job to find that out), then its definitely working. If you notice the pile shrinking eventually (a few weeks to a few months depending on the temperature), then its working. If you see worms or even maggots - its working. If you notice a really bad small, lots of flies or mold - its NOT working. What do you do? Add more 'easy' degrading stuff like grass clippings, brown paper bags, weeds and give it a mix. It may take a little while to work itself out, but it will eventually.
When is a good time to start a compost?
Anytime except in the dead of winter. Decomposition is both a chemical and physical process that needs a little warmth to get going but also creates its own warmth once it does. A compost pile started in the summer should be generating it own heat within a few weeks.
We just so happened to have taken down a dead blackberry bush the other day and so covered our food scraps with the thorny branches to keep out snackers. This step is not necessary - though it is a good idea to put in hay or sticks every once in a while because this creates ventilation pockets. Decomposition is an 'aerobic' process, which means it needs oxygen. This is why decomposition doesn't happen properly or fully in a landfill - organic matter is compressed between layers of non-decomposing things like plastic bags and, besides, who would want to hang out in a land fill? Even decomposers have standards you know.
Thats the end of my 2 hour, 20 dollar compost bin. Feel free to post any compost questions.
Thanks for reading,
Mark
