Our Very Own Compost Heap

I have thought about composting for a while on the farm. Knowing very little about it (apart from what could go in it), I started off last year with an old oil drum.

I threw in the odd bit of food waste-vegetable peelings and that kind of thing and then mainly used it as a plant bin for any old or dead plants and for emptying hanging baskets and pots.

The oil drum was full. I had never turned it because there was so much in it and I knew I needed another solution.

I was all for making a compost bin out of pallets-especially after making a walled enclosure for my vegetable patch out of them.

I was just about to begin when I found a crate in a corner. I inwardly squealed and managed to somehow bargain with the farmer to move it for me, which he did.

It even has a lid and the children looked bemused at mummy’s joy at a wooden crate.

I painted a little sign and got the children to decorate it with vegetable ad flower stickers. Great fun for all.

I don’t know how I did it, I even managed to get the farmer to empty the contents of my oil drum into the new crate and how I marvelled.

It was actually looking like compost at the bottom (now the top) and the children got really excited about the massive worms that had made their home in the drum and quite possibly, helped quite a bit with the composting process.

Recently I acquired two huge digger tyres which I am planning to use and, because of their size, they have had to go on the other side of my wall of pallets so that is where I have installed my compost crate. I wanted it close enough to my gardening area to transport it to pots and beds when it is ready.

I am so impressed with what happened in the oil drum that I am going to keep that too as I don’t think you can ever have enough compost.

It is also proving to be a great lesson in composting for the children and even I have had my mind blown at the wonders of nature.

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