Composting...

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Here’s a photo of my hay bale setup while it was being built. You can see the single layer hay bale in front to help hold materials in place.

 

[Sally PB]

The hay bales work great, I bet. Unless you have a dog. Mine would be all over that.

But I like the idea, that's for sure. The chickens like it too.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Here’s a photo of my hay bale setup while it was being built. You can see the single layer hay bale in front to help hold materials in place.

Nice! I love it.... Our area is slowly having space creep because 1) DH doesn't dump wheelbarrow in the same place like he should, and 2) chickens love to scratch through it and end up spreading it all over. Having something like this would help me with both issues.....

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Nice! I love it.... Our area is slowly having space creep because 1) DH doesn't dump wheelbarrow in the same place like he should, and 2) chickens love to scratch through it and end up spreading it all over. Having something like this would help me with both issues.....

People often talk about a compost “pile”, but I much prefer a “bin” or container around the pile. I find it really helps keep things together.

My first year with a big compost pile, it was literally just a pile…and some things are just hard to “pile up”. Think “whole fruit”…which are mostly round and roll off piles.

 

[TJAnonymous]

People often talk about a compost “pile”, but I much prefer a “bin” or container around the pile. I find it really helps keep things together.

My first year with a big compost pile, it was literally just a pile…and some things are just hard to “pile up”. Think “whole fruit”…which are mostly round and roll off piles.

Yeah...ours is a huge pile that started as a round bale that was naturally composting in a corner of our pasture. It is now an area that encompasses maybe 10 ft x 12 ft. But we compost quite a bit of stuff there - horse/rabbit/goat/chicken/duck manure; hay, straw, and sawdust/pine shavings, wood chips, grass clippings, leaves, and garden leftovers.

 

[BReeder!]

People often talk about a compost “pile”, but I much prefer a “bin” or container around the pile. I find it really helps keep things together.

My first year with a big compost pile, it was literally just a pile…and some things are just hard to “pile up”. Think “whole fruit”…which are mostly round and roll off piles.

I like my 3 side bins. I an growing fond of the idea of aging a low front, but not a full front wall because I don't want to remove something to turn the piles. The bins do help a lot with containing the footprint off the pile.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Round objects meet compost pile…

 

[TJAnonymous]

Round objects meet compost pile…

That's a heck of a lot of tomatoes....

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

That's a heck of a lot of tomatoes....

There are a lot of tomatoes, plus some little orange fruit I didn’t recognize. I get a different mix every load I pick up, but it’s clear that “round” and “pile” don’t mix!

I often say if all this whole fruit was intended to be wasted, it’d be square, not round. At least the chickens eat well!

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Yeah I have a hard time "turning" the piles or shuffling the piles of compost. I have silkies so that isn't gonna help since they aren't as helpful in this way as other type chickens.
So guess I'm left with the dump method and leave it for longer.