Skip to content
Welcome to our new forum! All existing NW Cryobank forum users will need to reset their passwords. Click forgot password and enter your email address to receive the link. Email us at info@nwcryobank.com with any questions.
NW Cryobank community boards and sibling connect groups will no longer be available after December 20th, 2023.
Options

OT: compost and rain buckets

ShannyShanny Posts: 2,456
edited November -1 in Parenting and Life
Anyone have ones they have been happy with? I was going to make the "$10 rain bucket" I have read about and buy a composter but I just found the "Good Ideas Complete Eco Package" that comes with a composter, rain bucket and compost pail and seems like a good deal. Anyone have any recommendations in this area? Do I want a tumbler as opposed to a bin I assume? I have been researching it forever but I just never pull the trigger because I am afraid of buying the wrong thing and some of these products get really horrible reviews! TIA
image_zps64579b54.png

Comments

  • Options
    cocolibbycocolibby Posts: 385
    edited November -1
    We compost a LOT, but we live in the country and have chickens, plus we're family of 5 so the waste we produce is immense. We don't own any fancy products: we just make cages out of hardware cloth so it's totally open to air and start it out with grass and brown stuff like dead leaves. For a long time I thought we needed to buy our build something, but it was more a matter of just doing it. We have one enormous heap of compost that is now our pumpkin hill. We did make rain barrels out of large trash cans & hardware for a hose - they work great!

    I'm curious to look up the products you're describing.
  • Options
    babybabybabybaby Posts: 1,564
    edited November -1
    @cocolibby: do you mind posting pics? i've been wanting to do these, but don't know anything about hardware cloth nor can i picture the hardware hose for the rainbarrel. :)
  • Options
    JCAlaskaJCAlaska Posts: 251
    edited November -1
    I too compost, but do so in the country so this may not apply either. I just got some very tight fencing (the holes are less than an inch) and a couple of clips or wire. I take the 8 ft by 4 ft fencing and join the ends with the wire or clips. This makes a 4 ft tall tube that I put the compost in. Then I dump a bucket of water over it and cover it with a tarp. in a few weeks or months, when I have the time and energy, I release the clips or wire, which leaves the compost standing there without the fencing. I then set the fencing up again next to it, and shovel or pitch-fork the compost into the now empty fencing compost bin. You too could do the same thing with anything that breathes. Obviously, if you don't have a place to put this, you will want to do this with a commercially purchases bin or tumbler. Can't help you on that. :)
    J & J in Alaska - 4th TTC created our little one. Miscarried at 10 wks 4 days on 12/1/10. Tried many more times then took a break for a couple of years to get healthy. We're BACK!! :)
  • Options
    melmel Posts: 793
    edited November -1
    After dealing with the carpenter ants I can't get out of one room of the house and then following this discussion into how to prepare a worm bin for composting, I'm feeling all itchy.

    THANKS A LOT, PEOPLE.
    Jjr6m5.png
  • Options
    JCAlaskaJCAlaska Posts: 251
    edited November -1
    LOL Mel! :)
    I haven't had any issues with any insects except a worm or two... and those are desireable in a compost pile. Of course, I'm in Alaska... so I don't have a lot of creepy crawly things some of you do. :)
    J & J in Alaska - 4th TTC created our little one. Miscarried at 10 wks 4 days on 12/1/10. Tried many more times then took a break for a couple of years to get healthy. We're BACK!! :)
  • Options
    melmel Posts: 793
    edited November -1
    oh, I'm not creeped out (much) by the worms. I teach science and we make worm compost bins, so I was looking into how to make a cooler one. :) But one woman talked about "thousands of wiggling worms" and after the ants, the ick just became too much.
    Jjr6m5.png
  • Options
    lolabellolabel Posts: 99
    edited November -1
    I have the older, square version of the Earth Machine composter, and have been using it for the last 7 years - it's wonderful. I never bothered with a tumbler - once your compost gets going, as long as you're doing wet then dry layering (haphazardly is fine - several inches of one then the other) and the whole thing gets wet occasionally (usually rain is enough where I live) it will churn away happily. For dry, I shred all my junkmail. You can't put shiny paper in, but other than that, just shred and throw it in.
    I made my own rain barrel this year, and it's fantastic. I found an old pickle barrel (free) then bought a lid online for it (have to be cautious of kids getting into rainbarrels, so a sealed lid is important) and ordered hardware, including a rainspout diverter on ebay. Between the lid and the hardware, it cost about $50.00. The first rain we got filled the barrel, and the garden loves the non-chlorinated water. Rainwater is also nitrogen rich, which is a plus. I'm going to make a second one next year.
    Mother to a 4 year old who has changed my whole world for the better!
  • Options
    lolabellolabel Posts: 99
    edited July 2012
    Last two tips about compost. 1) make sure you put your compost bin on actual ground (not concrete) so the worms etc. can come and go. (That's why I don't bother with tumblers - the worm action (and worm poop) makes better compost. 2) coffee is the secret ingredient. Coffee grounds, or just your left over actual coffee - it somehow does magic things and you get a lot more usable compost/dirt when using it.
    Mother to a 4 year old who has changed my whole world for the better!
  • Options
    cocolibbycocolibby Posts: 385
    edited November -1
    Sure, babybaby, I will take some pics and upload them sometime soon! Hardware cloth is sort of like chicken wire, only firmer, mostly because the grid of the wires is closer together and square or rectangular. So we used some that we had leftover from raccoon-proofing a chicken coop, and just rolled them into a tube like JC was describing and zip-tied them together.
Sign In or Register to comment.