Turning the Compost on Earth Day

Everything that I have read about "rapid composting" says that you should "turn" your compost every few days. I think that means shovel it out of the bin and then shovel it back into the bin (given that you only have one bin.)  So, in observance of Earth Day (April 22, 2019), I have done that.

Shovel it out.

Shovel it back.

Getting a workout in addition to helping to save the Earth.

It's working!

My compost heap is up to 109 degrees.  For the first time, it seems to be working as intended.

Composting

My son Michael had been composting food scraps for several years.  I was starting to feel guilty for disposing of food scraps with a garbage disposal.  I resolved to start composting.


On January 10, 2018, I ordered a rotating barrel composter from Lowe's.

When it arrived I began dumping all of our food scraps (except meat and dairy products) into it.  I occasionally added dry leaves to the barrel and rotated the barrel to mix them with the food scraps.

I ordered a compost thermometer from Amazon.  (Yes, this is really a thing!  Amazon has a wide selection of them.)   

Elevated temperature indicates that composting is happening.  Unfortunately, this compost was consistently at the same temperature as the air.  There was actually some composting action, but it was very slow.


On Sunday, January 13, 2019, I attended a composting workshop at The Sustainable Living Project in Tampa, and heard a very informative presentation by Josh Whiton, of MakeSoil.org.  (He has a short version on YouTube .)

By this time, I had been collecting food scraps in the barrel for almost a year.  The barrel was almost full, but the scraps did not seem to be composting very well.  One thing I learned at the presentation was that composting will go much faster if you have a larger amount of material.  The Sustainable Living Project had compost bins that were much larger than my barrel, as you can see in the picture below.  That's Josh in the gray shirt at the left side.

So I decided to build a similar bin, using old pallets.

On March 12, 2019, the new compost bin was complete. I did a FaceBook Post  about it:

"Compost bin project complete. Built primarily from old pallets picked up for free.  Estimated build time: 4 hours. Actual build time: ~40 hours.   Same as a typical software project."             

A few days later I moved the contents of the rotating barrel composter to the new bin, and added some dry leaves.

From what I have read about composting, I need at least a cubic yard of material, and a pile at least 32 inches high, in order to get the heat generating effect required for rapid composting.  (Two or three weeks vs. six months or a year.)  Original paper: The Rapid Composting Method )  That would require the bin to be filled at least to the level of the top of the gate, on the left side of the bin in the picture above. The material from the barrel filled the bin only to about six or eight inches.  I would need a lot more material in order to get rapid composting.  I talked to Michael about moving some of his compost to my bin.

Michael agreed.  And on March 31, we moved a load of his compost to my bin, about three or four house widths away.

Fortunately, I have two carts suitable for the job.  We dumped some of his most mature compost directly into one the carts, and loaded a partially full barrel of it into the other.

  

And pulled the carts to my house.

We shoveled the compost into the bin, along with more dry leaves, and used a hoe to mix it up with the compost that was already there.

We added more dry leaves and stuck the compost thermometer into the pile.

This is still only about half as much material as I need in order to get the rapid composting effect.  And as of April 1, the thermometer indicates that the pile is at the same temperature as the air.

Poly at the Dog Park

Sherry and I took our little dog Polly to the West Park Dog Park for the first time today.  We had met up with our neighbor Mandy, and her dog, and Polly's friend, Lucy, as we were just starting our morning dog walk with Polly.  Many and Lucy were on their way to West Park, so we decided to join them there.

Poly, near the center, with red collar

We found the people there very nice and friendly, and responsible about looking after their dogs. Polly had never been around multiple other dogs before, and had sometimes had issues with other dogs. But she got along very well with the other dogs in the small-dog area. We were really pleased for her to have an opportunity for socialization.

West Park Dog Park

2018 Gasparilla 15K

Gasparilla 15K  February 24, 2018

Time: 1:50:01  11:48 minutes/mile

20/38 in my age group

20 Years Ago

1998 Gasparilla 15K Finish

Straightening the Tree

Hurricane Irma left our little oak tree bent over.  We had put this tree in just two years ago, replacing a previous small oak tree that had died.  I really didn't want to lose another one.

I contacted the Hillsborough County office of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Service ( http://hillsborough.ifas.ufl.edu/ ) asking for advice on how to straighten a bent over tree. I received a prompt reply with "how to" advice:

Steps for standing up trees that have fallen

1. Keep roots moist.

2. Excavate a hole to accommodate roots.

3. Use sharp tools to make clean cuts on jagged or torn

roots.

4. Pull the tree up as straight as possible, taking care to

not damage the trunk or roots.

5. Fill the hole with soil from the site, but avoid burying

the area where the trunk meets the top main root

6. Irrigate the tree with the same frequency as for newly

planted trees, approximately three times/week for

the first several months. Also, apply water during dry

periods. Do not fertilize for one year.

7. Install staking system. Remove or adjust stakes after

six months to one year.

I had been watering the tree regularly ever since we returned home. 

Inspection showed that the tree itself was not bent.  The root ball was rotated, with the side next to the street raised and the side next to the house depressed.  I dug around the root ball in order to give it space to move back.  But I could not budge it by hand.  

I hooked up the car to the tree with a heavy wire, using a length of hose to prevent the wire from digging into the tree.  In the picture below, the wire is not visible because it is so thin, but the hose is visible.

The car was easily able to pull the tree back to an upright position.

I staked the wire to the ground to prevent the tree from rotating back to the bent position, and added a couple of boards to help prop it up.

I hope I have not damaged the roots too much, and that the tree can survive.  Time will tell.