Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Sally PB]

Nice! What's your plan for that? Firewood?

My step-grandfather visited from Arkansas one summer. He'd never seen birch before and was curious about "all those nekkid trees."

 

[saysfaa]

...I have 3 bins, side by side. ...

How big are your bins and how many chickens do you have?

Or, if you put more manure in than your chickens produce, what would be a good size for a half dozen chickens and the right amount of green to go with that much manure.

My compost piles have been near utter failures so far but that was before chickens and without turning them. I ended up hauling the contents to dump in the woods because they were so much in the way.

I think it will be win win... turning with a pitchfork will be similar to shoveling the snow off our driveway this winter which has been very good exercise.

 

[1muttsfan]

While grass clippings can make good compost, it is even better to use a mulching mower and return them to the lawn. It recycles valuable nutrients and reduces how much your yard needs to be supplemented. Kind of like when they used to harvest timber and left the tops and side branches to enrich the soil. Now they chip and remove everything. leaving the soil poorer and less able to grow valuable timber.

 

[aart]

Chicken manure revolutionized my composting. I can get usable compost in 3-4 weeks by using the Berkeley "hot composting" method. One caveat: A lot of turning, which I do with a pitchfork. The turning is necessary to aerate the pile to keep the process going.

I have 3 bins, side by side. The far right bin is the collection bin. It gets all the garden waste and kitchen scraps that I don't give to the chickens, plus the manure. When it's a decent sized heap, I fork it into the middle bin, and it sits for a few days. I wet it down thoroughly with a hose.

After 3-4 days, it will feel hot and I fork it into the left hand bin. It sits for a couple days, and I fork it back into the middle bin. Back and forth, every 2-3 days, until it stops feeling hot, which is usually about 3 weeks.

Most of it will be broken down, but there might be some long grass/stem pieces that aren't "done." They go back to the middle bin for another session.

I have a nice sized heap in the middle bin that I didn't get around to putting on the garden, so I left it there to become this spring's compost for potting soil for starting seeds.

Right now, the right hand bin has a good pile of this winter's poop and kitchen scraps. It'll make a great start to compost season.

Turning, and moisture control, is key.
Good Job!

 

[RaZ]

Right there with ya buddy!

I could make HUGE piles out of grass and leaves, but we don't mow that much of our land, and don't have a bagger on the mower.

In the spring, I rake up piles of thatch out of the grassy fields here. It makes fantastic mulch, so I use it that way. It's also great for the arm muscles that winter has flab-ergasted.

If I could "clear mow" and gather all the cuttings, wow, would I have a pile!

I don't mow anything here. I'm so happy to be out of the city and all that lawn nonsense. There are quite a few people around here that try to keep that city lawn. One neighbor asked me if I wanted his bagged grass clippings. I politely declined because he uses so many damn chemicals.

The only grassy area I have is on the south side of the property where the power lines run. The power company keeps the area clear of trees so I'm trying to establish a prairie grass restoration and draw in pheasants. Last year I had native grasses as high as the garage wall. Lots of native big bluestem and other natives. I'm looking forward to when I can do a controlled burn and really jump-start the native plants.

 

[Sally PB]

How big are your bins and how many chickens do you have?

I have 7 chickens. The bins are roughly 4-5 feet square and about 3 feet high.

 

[RaZ]

While grass clippings can make good compost, it is even better to use a mulching mower and return them to the lawn. It recycles valuable nutrients and reduces how much your yard needs to be supplemented. Kind of like when they used to harvest timber and left the tops and side branches to enrich the soil. Now they chip and remove everything. leaving the soil poorer and less able to grow valuable timber.

They left all kinds of trimmings on the ground when they logged this area in the 1800's. They had a couple of very dry seasons that lead to the massive fire that burned most of the Thumb. That was the same year as the Great Chicago Fire. That was a bad year for many areas in the Great Lakes Region. There are a couple of books about the Thumb fire. I'm going tom have to go to the library and reread about it. According to an old-timer here, my property and surrounding area was spared from that fire. There is a lot of old-growth wood here. Towering red pines and massive oaks abound. Some of the pines are dying out though.

 

[RaZ]

Nice! What's your plan for that? Firewood?

My step-grandfather visited from Arkansas one summer. He'd never seen birch before and was curious about "all those nekkid trees."

I want to use most of it for projects, bird feeders, houses, and whatnot. I might try to mill the truck pieces. It's beautiful wood and straight. Too nice to burn.

 

[saysfaa]

They left all kinds of trimmings on the ground when they logged this area in the 1800's. They had a couple of very dry seasons that lead to the massive fire that burned most of the Thumb. That was the same year as the Great Chicago Fire. That was a bad year for many areas in the Great Lakes Region. ..

Yeah, the Peshtigo WI fire was that year too. The same day as the Chicago fire.

 

[Sally PB]

I want to use most of it for projects, bird feeders, houses, and whatnot. I might try to mill the truck pieces. It's beautiful wood and straight. Too nice to burn.

Oh, nice! Please post pictures of them when they're done. Birch is a pretty wood.