On Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:31:24 -0500, Dan Espen
wrote:

Higgs Boson writes:

Now the City has announced that food waste may be added to the yard
waste bins. Result should be will be that their next quarterly free
distribution of
(lovely, fine-textured compost) will be even richer because of the
food waste.

So I have dismantled the bin and saved the little that looks something
like compost. I'll clean it out, put on Craigs List, see who bites.

Looking back over this and the previous composter, I probably should
have just made a pile at the back of the garden and turned
periodically w/pitchfork.

Anybody else think their municipality would set up such a program?

Ours collects branches twice a year but only collects yard waste
that has been placed in large paper bags that you must purchase.

How I'm supposed to fill about 40 of these large bags per year
is a mystery. I'd need some kind of mulcher and a lot of time.

Most of my neighbors use yard services.

I just create a big pile and late in August run it through a
framed screen. It ends up on the lawn or in a flower bed.
(Where I found the leaves in the first place.)

I mostly compost household waste in my composter. Most of my yard
waste gets dumped in the woods. I don't have grass clippings because
I use mulching blades.

On Feb 21, 6:40*pm, Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 wrote:
On Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:31:24 -0500, Dan Espen
wrote:









Higgs Boson writes:

Now the City has announced that food waste may be added to the yard
waste bins. *Result should be will be that their next quarterly free
distribution of
(lovely, fine-textured compost) will be even richer because of the
food waste.

So I have dismantled the bin and saved the little that looks something
like compost. *I'll clean it out, put on Craigs List, see who bites.

Looking back over this and the previous composter, I probably should
have just made a pile at the back of the garden and turned
periodically w/pitchfork.

Anybody else think their municipality would set up such a program?

Ours collects branches twice a year but only collects yard waste
that has been placed in large paper bags that you must purchase.

How I'm supposed to fill about 40 of these large bags per year
is a mystery. *I'd need some kind of mulcher and a lot of time.

Most of my neighbors use yard services.

I just create a big pile and late in August run it through a
framed screen. *It ends up on the lawn or in a flower bed.
(Where I found the leaves in the first place.)

I mostly compost household waste in my composter. *Most of my yard
waste gets dumped in the woods. *I don't have grass clippings because
I use mulching blades.

Mmmm....maybe I should ask the gardener to do the same -- if he *has*
mulching blades. I can see that in the "winter" because grass doesn't
grow quite as fast, but in the summer? Wouldn't it create a thick
blanket of mulched grass? Remember, this is a mild "Mediterranean"
climate.

TIA

On Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:48:53 -0800 (PST), Higgs Boson
wrote:

et. seq. You would then arrive at the content of the former bottom
square, which would in theory be ready-to-use compost. (There must be
an easier way to describe this?)

Inverting the contents.

The box type bins I've seen have an opening at the base you can shovel
the bottommost compost out of - slide straight in, pull out (think
pizza oven). if you really needed to rotate the compost in a bin, you
could shovel about a third out from the bottom and drop it on top, and
a week or two later, repeat the effort. This doesn't do a complete
inversion, but is reasonable. There is no need to relocate the bin.

Rotating a 50 gallon drum on an axle is a LOT easier.

I did it once or twice, but found it a pain; not great results. Also,
my gardener kept putting in too much stuff, causing the composter to
bulge at the seams.

Well, I think there's two sorts of home composting : someone with a
handful of garden clippings, plus the kitchen debris, and then someone
with an acre+ of yard to maintain, with tree limbs, leaves, grass
cuttings, and vegetable garden debris. The little composter can't
keep up with ALL of that - but if you put certain debris in there, you
can at least have a fast composter for some of your debris.

Now the City has announced that food waste may be added to the yard
waste bins. Result should be will be that their next quarterly free
distribution of
(lovely, fine-textured compost) will be even richer because of the
food waste.

The composting operations at municipal facilities are dealing with
such large volumes of compost that they've got no trouble maintaining
a high breakdown temperature. They can probably handle a small
quantity of meat in the compost bins without grief.

Anybody else think their municipality would set up such a program?

We've had green bind with the trash outfits for 2+ decades (the county
where I used to live was a very early adopter of curbside recycling,
not that reducing the landfil consumption rate meant that we'd pay any
lower a trash bill). With the exception of brambles, and sometimes
thorny citruses, I don't take any greenwaste to the landfill - all of
that goes into the compost. If my inlaws need a hand pruning the
garden, I haul my trailer over, we prune, and I load the stuff into my
trailer and haul it over here (it's always too much to manage in their
greenbin alone anyway) - hock it in the compost pile and let it do me
some good.

But then, I picked up about 5 cubic yards of composted horse manure
this past weekend (about 3400lbs I had to shovel out of my trailer in
two trailerloads) and have an order in for 40 cubic yards (delivered
by a semi trailer dumptruck with an extension trailer) of composted
duck manure - my favourite garden amendment. I'm always working to
add organic material to the garden to improve the tilth - it's not
enough to compost everything on site, I need MORE. g

Higgs Boson wrote:
Brooklyn1 wrote:
Dan Espen wrote:
Higgs Boson writes:

Now the City has announced that food waste may be added to the yard
waste bins. *Result should be will be that their next quarterly free
distribution of
(lovely, fine-textured compost) will be even richer because of the
food waste.

So I have dismantled the bin and saved the little that looks something
like compost. *I'll clean it out, put on Craigs List, see who bites.

Looking back over this and the previous composter, I probably should
have just made a pile at the back of the garden and turned
periodically w/pitchfork.

Anybody else think their municipality would set up such a program?

Ours collects branches twice a year but only collects yard waste
that has been placed in large paper bags that you must purchase.

How I'm supposed to fill about 40 of these large bags per year
is a mystery. *I'd need some kind of mulcher and a lot of time.

Most of my neighbors use yard services.

I just create a big pile and late in August run it through a
framed screen. *It ends up on the lawn or in a flower bed.
(Where I found the leaves in the first place.)

I mostly compost household waste in my composter. *Most of my yard
waste gets dumped in the woods. *I don't have grass clippings because
I use mulching blades.

Mmmm....maybe I should ask the gardener to do the same -- if he *has*
mulching blades. I can see that in the "winter" because grass doesn't
grow quite as fast, but in the summer? Wouldn't it create a thick
blanket of mulched grass? Remember, this is a mild "Mediterranean"
climate.

I mow ten acres of lawn, no way can I collect the clippings. Mulching
blades chop grass blades into such tiny bits that on the first cut
parts they shrivel and disappear before I finish the last parts. By
the time I clean up and have the mowers put away there are no
clippings to be seen. I don't bother raking leaves, I mow them and
let the wind sweep them away. Downed trees, branches, and prunings
get piled in the woods for critter homes. My composter is for
household vegetation and for whatever comes from my veggie garden. I
don't have a gardner, I'm it. If you have a gardener doing your
mowing he should be using mulching blades or sucking up the clippings
and taking them away, if not then you don't need a gardner. If after
your gardner leaves you have to rake up debris then you are being
ripped off. People who end up with lots of clippings on their lawn
it's because they mow at too great a speed. You really ought to
consider mowing your own lawn.

On Feb 21, 8:00*pm, Sean Straw wrote:
On Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:48:53 -0800 (PST), Higgs Boson

wrote:
et. seq. *You would then arrive at the content of the former bottom
square, which would in theory be ready-to-use compost. *(There must be
an easier way to describe this?)

Inverting the contents.

The box type bins I've seen have an opening at the base you can shovel
the bottommost compost out of - slide straight in, pull out (think
pizza oven). *if you really needed to rotate the compost in a bin, you
could shovel about a third out from the bottom and drop it on top, and
a week or two later, repeat the effort. *This doesn't do a complete
inversion, but is reasonable. *There is no need to relocate the bin.

***That was the case with my former composter; had an opening at the
base. The one I am now decommissioning does not, so I call it a poor
design.

[...snip....]


HB

On Feb 22, 6:16*am, Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 wrote:
Higgs Boson wrote:
Brooklyn1 wrote:
Dan Espen wrote:
Higgs Boson writes:

Now the City has announced that food waste may be added to the yard
waste bins. *Result should be will be that their next quarterly free
distribution of
(lovely, fine-textured compost) will be even richer because of the
food waste.

So I have dismantled the bin and saved the little that looks something
like compost. *I'll clean it out, put on Craigs List, see who bites.

Looking back over this and the previous composter, I probably should
have just made a pile at the back of the garden and turned
periodically w/pitchfork.

Anybody else think their municipality would set up such a program?

Ours collects branches twice a year but only collects yard waste
that has been placed in large paper bags that you must purchase.

How I'm supposed to fill about 40 of these large bags per year
is a mystery. *I'd need some kind of mulcher and a lot of time.

Most of my neighbors use yard services.

I just create a big pile and late in August run it through a
framed screen. *It ends up on the lawn or in a flower bed.
(Where I found the leaves in the first place.)

I mostly compost household waste in my composter. *Most of my yard
waste gets dumped in the woods. *I don't have grass clippings because
I use mulching blades.

Mmmm....maybe I should ask the gardener to do the same -- if he *has*
mulching blades. *I can see that in the "winter" because grass doesn't
grow quite as fast, but in the summer? *Wouldn't it create a thick
blanket of mulched grass? *Remember, this is a mild "Mediterranean"
climate.

I mow ten acres of lawn, no way can I collect the clippings. *Mulching
blades chop grass blades into such tiny bits that on the first cut
parts they shrivel and disappear before I finish the last parts. *By
the time I clean up and have the mowers put away there are no
clippings to be seen. *I don't bother raking leaves, I mow them and
let the wind sweep them away. *Downed trees, branches, and prunings
get piled in the woods for critter homes. *My composter is for
household vegetation and for whatever comes from my veggie garden. *I
don't have a gardner, I'm it. *If you have a gardener doing your
mowing he should be using mulching blades or sucking up the clippings
and taking them away,

Sounds like you live in a really kewl rural area - woods! Wow!

As I said earlier, gardener had been putting grass clippings in the
composter until I stopped him doing it every week, but by then, it was
bulging.

if not then you don't need a gardner. *If after your gardner leaves
you have to rake up debris then you are being
ripped off.

No, I don't have to rake up debris. Gardener sweeps and blows.
Blowing is considered a capital offense by the City, so he has to be
very careful and blow at low revs in order not to get busted. There
are nuisance gardeners who blow loud and long, but he is not that
kind.

*People who end up with lots of clippings on their lawn it's because
they mow at too great a speed. *You really ought to consider mowing
your own lawn.

Actually, I have considered it from time to time. if I did, it would
be with an old push mower, as I don't have anywhere near 10 acres;
just a front & back lawn.
Part of the back is consumed by the veggie garden.

I keep the gardener because on alternate weekends he does a heavy job
that I don't have time, ability, or patience to do. All of his work
is class A.

Friday I will ask him about the mulching blade.


HB

On Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:33:23 -0800 (PST), Higgs Boson
wrote:

On Feb 22, 6:16*am, Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 wrote:
Higgs Boson wrote:
Brooklyn1 wrote:
Dan Espen wrote:
Higgs Boson writes:

Now the City has announced that food waste may be added to the yard
waste bins. *Result should be will be that their next quarterly free
distribution of
(lovely, fine-textured compost) will be even richer because of the
food waste.

So I have dismantled the bin and saved the little that looks something
like compost. *I'll clean it out, put on Craigs List, see who bites.

Looking back over this and the previous composter, I probably should
have just made a pile at the back of the garden and turned
periodically w/pitchfork.

Anybody else think their municipality would set up such a program?

Ours collects branches twice a year but only collects yard waste
that has been placed in large paper bags that you must purchase.

How I'm supposed to fill about 40 of these large bags per year
is a mystery. *I'd need some kind of mulcher and a lot of time.

Most of my neighbors use yard services.

I just create a big pile and late in August run it through a
framed screen. *It ends up on the lawn or in a flower bed.
(Where I found the leaves in the first place.)

I mostly compost household waste in my composter. *Most of my yard
waste gets dumped in the woods. *I don't have grass clippings because
I use mulching blades.

Mmmm....maybe I should ask the gardener to do the same -- if he *has*
mulching blades. *I can see that in the "winter" because grass doesn't
grow quite as fast, but in the summer? *Wouldn't it create a thick
blanket of mulched grass? *Remember, this is a mild "Mediterranean"
climate.

I mow ten acres of lawn, no way can I collect the clippings. *Mulching
blades chop grass blades into such tiny bits that on the first cut
parts they shrivel and disappear before I finish the last parts. *By
the time I clean up and have the mowers put away there are no
clippings to be seen. *I don't bother raking leaves, I mow them and
let the wind sweep them away. *Downed trees, branches, and prunings
get piled in the woods for critter homes. *My composter is for
household vegetation and for whatever comes from my veggie garden. *I
don't have a gardner, I'm it. *If you have a gardener doing your
mowing he should be using mulching blades or sucking up the clippings
and taking them away,

Sounds like you live in a really kewl rural area - woods! Wow!

As I said earlier, gardener had been putting grass clippings in the
composter until I stopped him doing it every week, but by then, it was
bulging.

if not then you don't need a gardner. *If after your gardner leaves
you have to rake up debris then you are being
ripped off.

No, I don't have to rake up debris. Gardener sweeps and blows.
Blowing is considered a capital offense by the City, so he has to be
very careful and blow at low revs in order not to get busted. There
are nuisance gardeners who blow loud and long, but he is not that
kind.

*People who end up with lots of clippings on their lawn it's because
they mow at too great a speed. *You really ought to consider mowing
your own lawn.

Actually, I have considered it from time to time. if I did, it would
be with an old push mower, as I don't have anywhere near 10 acres;
just a front & back lawn.
Part of the back is consumed by the veggie garden.

I keep the gardener because on alternate weekends he does a heavy job
that I don't have time, ability, or patience to do. All of his work
is class A.

Friday I will ask him about the mulching blade.

Usually grounds keepers in surburbia bag the clippings and take them
away. When I lived on a small lot in surburbia I had a gardener come
once a week to mow, edge, and blow... put down chems regularly, etc.
Was only $25/wk so it hardly payed to own a mower. But ten years ago
I retired to my roots and live very rural, I like tending to the
grounds, and keeps me active. Quite a few people I worked with
retired to a condo where they mostly looked out a window, they didn't
last long. I don't work hard but I don't sleep till noon and lounge
about all day. My favorite part of retirement is not wearing a
watch... I only need to know day time and night time. My cats are my
alarm clock, 6 AM every morning. This quiet life is not for everyone
but I love it.

On Feb 22, 3:26*pm, Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 wrote:
On Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:33:23 -0800 (PST), Higgs Boson









wrote:
On Feb 22, 6:16*am, Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 wrote:
Higgs Boson wrote:
Brooklyn1 wrote:
Dan Espen wrote:
Higgs Boson writes:

Now the City has announced that food waste may be added to the yard
waste bins. *Result should be will be that their next quarterly free
distribution of
(lovely, fine-textured compost) will be even richer because of the
food waste.

So I have dismantled the bin and saved the little that looks something
like compost. *I'll clean it out, put on Craigs List, see who bites.

Looking back over this and the previous composter, I probably should
have just made a pile at the back of the garden and turned
periodically w/pitchfork.

Anybody else think their municipality would set up such a program?

Ours collects branches twice a year but only collects yard waste
that has been placed in large paper bags that you must purchase.

How I'm supposed to fill about 40 of these large bags per year
is a mystery. *I'd need some kind of mulcher and a lot of time.

Most of my neighbors use yard services.

I just create a big pile and late in August run it through a
framed screen. *It ends up on the lawn or in a flower bed.
(Where I found the leaves in the first place.)

I mostly compost household waste in my composter. *Most of my yard
waste gets dumped in the woods. *I don't have grass clippings because
I use mulching blades.

Mmmm....maybe I should ask the gardener to do the same -- if he *has*
mulching blades. *I can see that in the "winter" because grass doesn't
grow quite as fast, but in the summer? *Wouldn't it create a thick
blanket of mulched grass? *Remember, this is a mild "Mediterranean"
climate.

I mow ten acres of lawn, no way can I collect the clippings. *Mulching
blades chop grass blades into such tiny bits that on the first cut
parts they shrivel and disappear before I finish the last parts. *By
the time I clean up and have the mowers put away there are no
clippings to be seen. *I don't bother raking leaves, I mow them and
let the wind sweep them away. *Downed trees, branches, and prunings
get piled in the woods for critter homes. *My composter is for
household vegetation and for whatever comes from my veggie garden. *I
don't have a gardner, I'm it. *If you have a gardener doing your
mowing he should be using mulching blades or sucking up the clippings
and taking them away,

Sounds like you live in a really kewl rural area - woods! *Wow!

As I said earlier, gardener had been putting grass clippings in the
composter until I stopped him doing it every week, but by then, it was
bulging.

if not then you don't need a gardner. *If after *your gardner leaves
you have to rake up debris then you are being
ripped off.

No, I don't have to rake up debris. Gardener sweeps and blows.
Blowing is considered a capital offense by the City, so he has to be
very careful and blow at low revs in order not to get busted. * There
are nuisance gardeners who blow loud and long, *but he is not that
kind.

*People who end up with lots of clippings on their lawn *it's because
they mow at too great a speed. *You really ought to *consider mowing
your own lawn.

Actually, I have considered it from time to time. if I did, it would
be with an old push mower, as I don't have anywhere near 10 acres;
just a front & back lawn.
Part of the back is consumed by the veggie garden.

I keep the gardener because on alternate weekends he does a heavy job
that I don't have time, *ability, *or patience to do. *All of his work
is class A.

Friday I will ask him about the mulching blade.

Usually grounds keepers in surburbia bag the clippings and take them
away. *When I lived on a small lot in surburbia I had a gardener come
once a week to mow, edge, and blow... put down chems regularly, etc.
Was only $25/wk so it hardly payed to own a mower. *But ten years ago
I retired to my roots and live very rural, I like tending to the
grounds, and keeps me active. *Quite a few people I worked with
retired to a condo where they mostly looked out a window, they didn't
last long. *I don't work hard but I don't sleep till noon and lounge
about all day. *My favorite part of retirement is not wearing a
watch... I only need to know day time and night time. *My cats are my
alarm clock, 6 AM every morning. *This quiet life is not for everyone
but I love it.

Move over, I'll be right there. Is my cat welcome too?

HB

Higgs Boson wrote:

Sounds like you live in a really kewl rural area - woods! Wow!

As I said earlier, gardener had been putting grass clippings in the
composter until I stopped him doing it every week, but by then, it was
bulging.

If the bin bulges, it's too weak. Most of the compost I get is because of lawn
clippings, so I'd hate to lose them.

My first bins were made with 4 4x4 foot pallets, stood on edge to form a cube,
and tied or nailed together at the top corners, with the "top" surfaces to the
indside. They work fine for several years, and then have to be replaced. I
finally built 2 bins with treated 2x4's, sort of like a house wall frame
structure, then lined them with 1/2" galvanised steel or plastic hardware cloth
(1 each). Those have lasted for years and seem to have many more ahead.

My bins are about 4x6 feet and 4-5 feet deep, with removeable or hinged fronts,
which take me a couple years to fill up since I use the mulching mower during
the slower growth times of the year. I don't "turn" them. I just keep filling
one till it's full, then start filling the other. When the first bin is needed,
I fork the uncomposted top off the bin into the other, they use the compost.

I do fill the bins in layers. Add a couple inches of grass clippings, spread it
evenly, then sprinkle a tiny bit of dirt over the layer to "innoculate" it with
the needed bacteria. This seems to help avoid pockets of uncompostd material I
used to find. Larger material such as garden waste I will grind up with my
snapper mower by running over small piles repeatedly, before throwing them in
the bin.

This works for me with the minimum of extra work.

On Feb 26, 10:22*am, "Bob F" wrote:
Higgs Boson wrote:

Sounds like you live in a really kewl rural area - woods! *Wow!

As I said earlier, gardener had been putting grass clippings in the
composter until I stopped him doing it every week, but by then, it was
bulging.

If the bin bulges, it's too weak. Most of the compost I get is because of lawn
clippings, so I'd hate to lose them.

My first bins were made with 4 4x4 foot pallets, stood on edge to form a cube,
and tied or nailed together at the top corners, with the "top" surfaces to the
indside. They work fine for several years, and then have to be replaced. I
finally built 2 bins with treated 2x4's, sort of like a house wall frame
structure, then lined them with 1/2" galvanised steel or plastic hardware cloth
(1 each). Those have lasted for years and seem to have many more ahead.

My bins are about 4x6 feet and 4-5 feet deep, with removeable or hinged fronts,
which take me a couple years to fill up since I use the mulching mower during
the slower growth times of the year. I don't "turn" them. I just keep filling
one till it's full, then start filling the other. When the first bin is needed,
I fork the uncomposted top off the bin into the other, they use the compost.

I do fill the bins in layers. Add a couple inches of grass clippings, spread it
evenly, then sprinkle a tiny bit of dirt over the layer to "innoculate" it with
the needed bacteria. This seems to help avoid pockets of uncompostd material I
used to find. Larger material such as garden waste I will grind up with my
snapper mower by running over small piles repeatedly, before throwing them in
the bin.

This works for me with the minimum of extra work.

Witrh 20-20 hindsight, I should have done just as you did, instead of
buying the (supposedly discounted, but not very good) bins the City
was offering. Even the previous bin, which had an outlet at the
bottom, was not your Class A composter.

I am selling my Smith & Hawken bio-something composter and will in
future rely on the City's 4x yearly free distribution of fine-ground
compost. It will now be enriched w/table scraps since they have
starting allowing/inviting us to add all table scraps -- including
meat & other no-no''s -- to the garden waste bins.

May also cut back somewhat on growing food. In such a small
household, with access to four (not cheap!) farmers markets and an
organic co-op, it almost doesn't pay to grow -- except possibly for
"spiritual" reasons.

HB

HB.

Thanks for all your input, just one more favour.
I have made a survey to help me with my designing. if you could fill this in I would very much appreciate it.
Designing A Compost Bin Survey
Thanks again! Ferg