Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[vehve]

Ok ... I am still trying to get him to where we can discuss the composting topic but our work schedules are not cooperating Hopefully I will be able to start a pile in the next couple weeks.

I suggest taking the same route as my better half did with our chickens - one day there was a incubator in the mail, and a few days after that some eggs. Before I knew it, we had a batch of eggs cooking up in our toilet.

 

[adventerousone]

LOL yeah that may be the way I end up going .. I just know with him things are way easier if I can get him to agree

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Yep asking forgiveness is much easier than asking permission..... been there done that been done to....

deb

 

[LindaB220]

LOL yeah that may be the way I end up going .. I just know with him things are way easier if I can get him to agree

Glad to have you . Buy one of those cheap shredders that fit on top of the small rectangle trash container. Shred up all paper and use as the brown and it will save a lot of space in your trash can but can be made into black gold. For those times you don't have leaves or grass clippings. It all composts.

 

[lazy gardener]

It's a wise wife who plants the seed of an idea, waters it well, and waits until it germinates. You'll know that's happened when your better half comes up with yet an other brilliant idea: "Honey, I think our lives would be better if we had a compost bin!"

Seriously, if you're going to do some raised beds next year, start one now. Get some bales of hay or straw. Lay down newspaper or cardboard to cover the footprint of that raised bed. Then, layer your kitchen waste, followed by some hay or straw, more kitchen scrap, leaves, a shovel full of soil here and there, manure if you can get some, what ever you can get your hands on. Get that pile 2' tall, keep it a bit moist, cover it with plastic, let it cook for the winter, and you'll have a fantastic raised bed ready to go in the spring. If you want more instruction, check out the book titled "Lasagna Gardening" by ? Lanza.

Tell hubby that this is a tried and true gardening method, and it will save you lots of money by turning yard and kitchen debris into "to die for" soil, and your first garden veggies will grow so fast you'll be able to hear them!

 

[adventerousone]

We have been throwing our grass clippings under a couple trees.. when I cleaned out my ducklings space I raked the clippings and mixed the straw duck poop and shavings into the pile lol lets see what he says when I get home from work tonight

 

[vehve]

Don't point it out, just wait until he notices and say "I've actually been composting for two months now."

Another way of achieving things, whenever I try to protest to my girlfriends crazy ideas (like chicken keeping) I get the "You knew what I was like when you chose me." line. She's right though.

 

[adventerousone]

Hahaha this is all new to me not sure why but the last couple.. oh say three or four years is more like it I have wanted chickens and a garden the compost is fairly new.. but then he knew my dad farmed growing up so its like going back to my roots... technically his dad is a farmer too just a horrible one so maybe that is why he keeps resisting... hadn't thought of that :/

 

[lazy gardener]

Hubby accuses me of going back to my granola days. In a way, he's right. I honestly can't tell you why I've gone off the deep end into chicken keeping and gardening. It's always been a passion, the gardening, but the chicken thing just seems to compliment the gardening goals so very well. I think part of my drive is based on the uncertain economic times. And things are guaranteed to get worse. So, I want to be able to rustle up a meal from my own land, not be so dependent on the grocery store. Want to know how to do what's necessary to live well off the grid if that ever became necessary.

 

[LindaB220]

Hubby accuses me of going back to my granola days. In a way, he's right. I honestly can't tell you why I've gone off the deep end into chicken keeping and gardening. It's always been a passion, the gardening, but the chicken thing just seems to compliment the gardening goals so very well. I think part of my drive is based on the uncertain economic times. And things are guaranteed to get worse. So, I want to be able to rustle up a meal from my own land, not be so dependent on the grocery store. Want to know how to do what's necessary to live well off the grid if that ever became necessary.

That's it. The need to be self sustaining in a crazy world. My days are probably over for totally self sustainment, but I can work with what I have and if I can garden a little, can a little and raise a bunch of chickens, that's what I'll do. I'd like a bunch of fruit trees but not gonna happen. I do have a couple of fig trees to plant and I have a large mulberry tree over the coop. So I'll make do.