About a year and a half ago, we began composting. Jason built an awesome compost bin out of supplies we already had on hand. We absolutely love composting. But, we've come to realize we've kind of been doing it wrong.
After doing some research, Jason decided to revamp our compost bin and move it to a different spot.
He moved it out of the garden and built it alongside our chicken run. Perfect location. Bugs love compost, bugs make chickens happy. We love happy chickens.
He built the 'frame' of the compost out of large logs that have just been sitting around our fire pit. We have more than enough wood so there was plenty to spare.
He separated it into two different sections - the left is for newer material that needs time to break down. The right side is full of rich, dark, awesome compost. We also keep a 5 gallon bucket full of compost next to the compost bin outside our back door. Then we can add a little brown material to it every time kitchen scraps are dumped into it.
Once the walls were built for the compost, it was time to work on the top and front. Of course, in true Hayes Homestead fashion, everything was made by repurposing 'junk'. Jason's dad has a pole barn full of said junk that he inherited when he purchased the barn. All that junk has been very beneficial to us!
There was a large piece of (what we think is) metal siding. Using metal hand cutters, he cut it into different sized pieces.
Once he had the pieces cut, he screwed a piece of wood into the fence along the back of the compost and then also screwed a piece of wood into the metal. He connected the two pieces with hinges so we'd be able to easily open and close the compost lids.
Once the tops were in place, he still needed to cover in between the two lids. So, he pieced and screwed together a few other pieces of metal, attached it to wood and hinged it to the wood on the fence.
He had some friends keeping him company during part of the installation :)
With the roof finished, now he just needed to get the front of the compost secured. He used more metal and dug holes to set large logs into the ground to lock and hold the pieces of metal in place.
And finally, completion!
(can you spot Batman in the background? :)
It's so awesome. Jason put a lot of sweat and hard work into this! We're so excited to see how well our compost does in this bin compared to our old one. We've got our fingers crossed for some super awesome compost for our garden in the spring!
And, we're also excited for these girls. With their run facing the backside of our compost, they are going to be getting so many yummy treats!
Happy Composting!
~ Sara :)