Uncharted Heritage

Since it is not convenient to run out to the compost pile several times a day to throw out kitchen scraps and since the kitchen is small and there really isn’t a good way to keep the scraps inside until the end of the day, I needed to find a practical solution.  I tried simply setting a bucket outside the backdoor, but this really wasn’t the best idea with children and pets and other critters around.  So after discussing the problem with my husband [who just so happens to be a blacksmith], John designed a couple of extended S-hooks for me to hang my 'blue compost bucket' on - close to the backdoor, perfect height, out of the rain, and these hooks also come down easily if I need to remove the entire set-up.

             Our simple solution…

There are different types of composting procedures, which call for different types of environments.  Due to our location and current time of year, the shorter holding time of the compost and its forgiving nature, the “mesophilic standards” of composting will be the style we will focus on for now.  Mesophilic organisms typically grow best in moderate temperatures, neither too hot nor too cold, typically between 68 and 113 °F (20 and 45 °C) and the compost can usually be used after about six months. 

We have chosen a place that will be a fairly central location in comparision to where we plan to place our gardens and in a place that should receive both sun and shade and is not in the path of a lot of runoff water.  Our first materials have been placed today…research will continue…it will take time and patience, trial and error.