The Magic Compost Bin

I think we got our composter in August 2016. I’m not really sure. I usually write things like that down, but I either didn’t or just can’t find it. Not that the precise date matters. The earliest picture I have of our lovely compost bin was taken August 26, 2016.

Composter settled in nicely by the garden.

When we first moved into the new house, my husband made a do-it-yourself compost bin out of a large plastic trash bin. He drilled holes, and set it on a platform behind the garage, and it worked reasonably well. It did have a tendency to blow over when there were high winds, however. Somehow, we found out that County Stormwater Coalition had composters for sale at a discount price for county residents. We went and picked up one at a truly reasonable price, and never looked back.

A closer look at the shiny new bin.

Now, back when we lived on the mountain, we tried composting. When we had chickens, it worked well enough, but before that the climate was just not conducive to composting. It took forever to breakdown, and there was never much to spread in the garden. That seemed perfectly normal to me as that was where I grew up; in the land of weak composters.

Here things are different. There are actually worms here! I still celebrate a little every time I dig a worm while working in the garden (they were so very rare in the mountains), but the celebrations peter out around the tenth worm or so. This composter works so very well. It seems it can compost everything. Never has it been more than 2/3 full because everything breaks down so quickly, and we (meaning my husband) have only emptied it twice.

The first time emptying the compost bin.

The second emptying happened last week. It was a nice day, but I was working from home and stuck inside. My husband went out, emptied the bin, and cleaned up the garden as well. I had not put the garden to bed last fall so it was in a sad state. There was enough compost to spread over nearly two full raised beds. I’m sure that will make the veggies happy this year.

Out of the bin…

…and onto the garden.

 The compost bin is refreshed, reset, and ready for more green and browns. It was a job well-done, and I appreciate that my husband did it, though I am a tad bit sad that I couldn’t be out there working with him. But, there will be plenty more time for that as the season progresses.

One more shot of the compost bin, but mostly of the little deer who came to visit.