compost

my garden has taken quite a beating this season. first the chickens ate my carrots and chard. then once all the stuff they love was gone, they developed a taste for cauliflower, fennel, and radish greens. and then they decided, what the hell, let's strip the tomato plants bare.

my only successful homestead-y project this season is the compost bin:

sweet dirt, bro

i've been meaning to start a bin for quite a while and, a month or so ago, i finally did. it is fed mostly with kitchen scraps and wood chips from the garage- only from around the lathe, though, where there is less chance of the chips being polluted with plywood adhesives or petro-based wood glue. occasionally, it gets the chicken coop scrapings and i'm thinking i might add cotton sewing scraps (though horror stories of the amount of pesticide and other chemicals used on cotton crops have made me hesitant. maybe just the organics?)

anyway, i'm really amazed at how well it seems to be going: there is no bad odor- just a little earthiness- and the moisture level seems pretty self-regulating. 

the bin itself is just some old redwood fence scraps and 2x4's scavenged from the side yard. the open front makes it easy to stir but it gives the chickens full access. and they like spreading things out. so it may be time for a little movable fence to keep things a bit neater.

in the end, fresh dirt doesn't quite make up for the loss of pretty much every crop i planted. but it helps.