One of the things I knew I wanted to do when we moved here to WayMaker Acres is learn how to compost. I love the idea of helping decomposers do their job well which then in turn helps the producers do their job well which in turns feeds to the consumers so we can do our job well. It’s a brilliant and beautiful cycle.

So first up: creating a space for compost.

We have an abundance of compostable material available to us, especially with two horses and a growing brood of chickens. The garden will come in the spring (working on plans this week, actually!) and with that will come a need for high quality compost. A quick afternoon of researching how to compost horse manure led me to what seemed like an easy plan to turn 7 wood pallets into compost bins. I forwarded the plans to The Firefighter who continued on with the research by watching YouTube videos.

Having a good idea of what we needed to do, he reached out to a friend who we thought might have access to some pallets and before we knew it, we had all the materials we needed to get started. Now it was just a matter of making the time to put it all together. With The Firefighter’s crazy work schedule, sometimes that can be the hardest part of a project. Yesterday, however, everything lined up just so, and we were able to put it together.

The Firefighter grabbed his cordless drill, some deck screws, and our 7 pallets and got to work. We started by joining two pallets together with the top side of the pallets facing inward. This allowed us to have more boards closest to the composting material to minimize what would spill out – at least that’s the hope! We added a third pallet to complete an open bin design.

We completed one bin and got to work on the second one. We took a quick break to give Zelda some love. She was very interested in what we were doing.

With two bins complete, all we need to do is join them together with the 7th pallet to create the third bin. Three bins will give us space for three “stations” for our compost. The first “station” will be for the freshest compostable materials – the freshest manure and green materials. Once that gets full, we move it to the second “station,” and then, in due time, to the third. By the time it reaches the third station, it should be pretty near the end of the composting cycle and ready for use!

You may notice that it doesn’t quite seem to be all connected yet. That’s because it isn’t. We ran out of time and will be working on finishing it up soon enough. As the piles grow, we will also be adding vented PVC pipes to the middle of the piles to provide a fresh supply of oxygen to the compost. Without that oxygen, the composting process won’t happen.

There’s more to share about composting in general and specifically what it will look like for us at WayMaker Acres. As I learn more, I’ll be sure to share about it, so stay tuned!

~Louise