Composting Bins
Sometimes you try things that seem like a great idea, but they did not meet expectations.
During our first year here on the homestead I made two composting drums from those blue 55 gallon containers. I cut a door in the side, added hinges, latches, handles, and put baffles on the inside to help mix the compost. The frame is made from 2 x 4 lumber built in an “A” frame. Wheels were added for the drum to set on so we could turn the drum to mix the compost.
This type of compost system decreases the time it normally takes to compost table scraps because the sun will heat the inside. Mixing the contents insures that the compost breaks down quickly. For several months, we added table scraps and turned the drum every day. The result was that just after a month or two we had great compost for the garden.
However, we lost interest for a three reasons. One, we got chickens and they love table scraps which cuts down on the feed bill. Second, we got better at conserving food which reduced our left overs. Third, we figured out that this method would never provide the volume of compost we needed for the garden. With a limited amount of composting material, it was not worth the effort so the drums have set unused for almost four years setting among the weeds.
I guess the moral is that it is good to try new things. Even though this compost system did not meet our need, we still learned a little on our homesteading journey.
Have a great day! Every comment is up-voted and thanks for your up-vote, Tim and Joann
I'm using these same blue barrels for storing sap before boiling for syrup. I was thinking of adding an outlet to make it easier to transfer liquid.
How hard was it to cut in your doors? And what did you use to cut it?
It was easy. I used a jig saw.
I just use a large plastic garbage can. The girls do eat a lot of leftovers, but what they don’t eat I throw into the can. It takes forever because we don’t turn it often. Ok by me at least we aren’t wasting it. Makes a great tea and sometimes we get a batch of fresh meal worms . Makes the girls really happy. 🐓🐓
We use tumbler bins for composting a large amount of compost but we also have several of them and it is a small part of our soil mix. We have large worm bins that we use to produce quality castings for planting mixed with a small amount of our compost. The tumbler composters are nice for smaller gardens but they are fantastic for prepping worm bin food. I toss several bags of cut grass, some 5 gal buckets of food scraps and a bucket of rabbit manure for a week in my hot composter and let it cook down while getting a nice mix. After a week it goes into my worm bins and I pack that side full again for the next week. I produce a little over 200 lbs of worm castings a week now so I have plenty to plant with along with sell. Have you tried worms? You can start with a pound or so and let them start multiplying because they do very fast. You can also toss your extra worms to your chickens when your bins are full or you could even start raising mealworms for your chickens. I have started to write a few articles on those things if you are interested. Really nice job making the bins though out of what you have available.
It sounds like you do a better job then we do.
I took what I was dong for my homestead and started to run it as a small business and then grew it a little more and little more as I went. Now it produces well for my homestead and also helps bring in a small income. I have plenty of other projects though on the homestead that are good ideas I just did not have time for and did not find functional for my homestead similar to how composting was not practical for your homestead. That is what I love about homesteading because everyones homestead is different based on location and the person managing it's needs.
I bet you could make a few bucks on craigslist off of those!
I’ve been wanting to do some sort of composting bins here, too. I found ones that you can just set right on top of the dirt, which I found appealing. Less work gets a thumbs up from me lol. But the more I thought about it, I’m not sure we’d have much to add to it. We plan on getting chickens this year, so we could feed them with the scraps. Also, I’ve learned to dish myself less at meal time and eat whatever the kids don’t eat. So, all that leaves us with is peelings, which doesn’t amount to too much.
The sheep and cow like our peels. If I dice them in bite size pieces the chickens will eat them
You should sell or give those away to someone. Chickens are truly wonderful animals to have on the farm.
I learned the same way as you. Now I use the big plastic trash cans with tons of holes drilled in them. They are slower, but work flawlessly. 6 to 8 months to produce 60 gallons of compost with minimal effort.
Good to know! I think those bins would go to waste for us as well, for similar reasons... Maybe you should sell them, those types of composting bins are quite popular now. :)
Your experience with those is exactly what mine has been with a store-bought bin of that style. Add to that the fact that it got really heavy and difficult to turn, and I have been disappointed in our composting efforts.
I built one last year but have not had much success