I have tried composting a number of ways, but where I live in northern Minnesota, it usually is a long process. One easy way is to just build some pallet bins, fill the first one up, then move on to the second bin, when that is full, then start filling up a third bin. By the time you fill up the third bin, you might be lucky and your compost in the first bin is done. This of course depends on time. I never turn my pallet compost bins, I just let them sit and compost on their own time. Of course, if you periodically turn the bins and reactivate them with water, that should speed up the process. But I'm not into turning compost bins. Too much work for me.
The best method I have found for me is to use my composting chickens to do almost all the work. I turned my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system. After my chickens ate all the grass in their run down to bare dirt, I decided to lay down a layer of wood chips so the run would not get all muddy after a rain. That works fine, but I then decided to start tossing in all my grass clippings from mowing. The chickens love to eat some grass clippings, and will naturally scratch and peck through the litter, mixing it with the wood chips. In the fall, I started dumping in all the leaves from the yard into the run. I also will throw out our kitchen scraps and leftover onto the chicken run litter and the chickens will eat what they want, and the rest gets mixed into the chicken run compost.
I use deep bedding in my chicken coop, and only clean it out twice a year, but all the coop litter gets tossed in the chicken run for composting with everything else. This winter I am experimenting with using free paper shreds I make at home instead of using wood chips like I did the past 2 years. So far, the paper shreds are working out much better than I had expected. And, of course, the paper shreds will compost down much faster than wood chips when they tossed out into the chicken run.
Anyway, over a course of about 6 months, I had built up a nice 12 inches of compost litter in the chicken run. The top few inches are mostly fresh, but as you dig down, you strike black gold compost. I converted a cement mixer into a compost sifter, and now I just harvest as much compost as I want any time I want. There is more compost in my chicken run than I can use, so I just let it sit and age until I want some. My composting chickens do all the turning of the litter, so my chicken run compost is done in about 6 months compared to about 1 year for my pallet bins.
It is the best system I have developed for myself.
The best method I have found for me is to use my composting chickens to do almost all the work. I turned my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system. After my chickens ate all the grass in their run down to bare dirt, I decided to lay down a layer of wood chips so the run would not get all muddy after a rain. That works fine, but I then decided to start tossing in all my grass clippings from mowing. The chickens love to eat some grass clippings, and will naturally scratch and peck through the litter, mixing it with the wood chips. In the fall, I started dumping in all the leaves from the yard into the run. I also will throw out our kitchen scraps and leftover onto the chicken run litter and the chickens will eat what they want, and the rest gets mixed into the chicken run compost.
I use deep bedding in my chicken coop, and only clean it out twice a year, but all the coop litter gets tossed in the chicken run for composting with everything else. This winter I am experimenting with using free paper shreds I make at home instead of using wood chips like I did the past 2 years. So far, the paper shreds are working out much better than I had expected. And, of course, the paper shreds will compost down much faster than wood chips when they tossed out into the chicken run.
Anyway, over a course of about 6 months, I had built up a nice 12 inches of compost litter in the chicken run. The top few inches are mostly fresh, but as you dig down, you strike black gold compost. I converted a cement mixer into a compost sifter, and now I just harvest as much compost as I want any time I want. There is more compost in my chicken run than I can use, so I just let it sit and age until I want some. My composting chickens do all the turning of the litter, so my chicken run compost is done in about 6 months compared to about 1 year for my pallet bins.
It is the best system I have developed for myself.