They make compost aerators, which contract when you stick it in and expand when you pull it out. That sounds handy but the price tag is too much for me.

If you are physically unable to turn piles as big as you are building, the answer is probably to not turn your compost at all. It will take longer but it will save your back. Just make sure when you build your CPs you are ensure good drainage, which will help the aeration and nearly eliminate the need for turning. There are many things you can do to improve drainage, two of which are build it on top of a wooden pallet and start with a layer of twigs at the bottom.

Thank you. I didn't build on a pallet, but I did put a layer of sticks in the bottom.

I wonder if an ice-fishing auger would work? It seems it would be possible to cork-screw it in and pull it out, but that seems like it'd be tough on the back too.

You probably mean this but just in case, when you say turning the pile do you mean using a pitch fork to move it to another bin? It should be a lot less weight taking from the top than trying to fluff up from under a 3 foot pile, but it may be what you're trying already.

Why not gang up some garden/yard chores for the week (or every other week) and hire a local teenager for the afternoon to turn the pile, haul some leaves, move some rocks or soil, cut the grass, pull some weeds, etc. etc. Everyone complains about how lazy kids are these days, but teens are always desperate for cash and your not asking them to perform brain surgery.

Is your problem because you're trying to get it out from the top of the bin, or are you unable to pick up anything with a pitchfork?

I certainly couldn't turn my bin if I was doing it from the top. I disassemble mine, put it to the side and toss the stuff back in. But, as mentioned, you don't need to turn your compost at all.

You might look into getting a 6 or 8 foot long steel pry bar, and using a piece of 12" diameter wood as a fulcrum, drive the end of the bar into the pile, and then push down on the long end, forcing up the shorter end, stirring up the compost up that way. Five or six times around the pile will mix it up pretty well.

Even easier if it's a pallet bin, and you just use the pallet wood as the balance point.

Turning a compost pile is a lot of work, what may start as a 4 x 4 x 4 compost pile will weigh 1 ton, and turning that is strenuous. Before starting you do need to warm your muscle up and when done you need to cool them down, just as you would before doing any kind of strenuous exercise, or as you should before shoveling snow.

Thanks everyone for all the turning ideas. i will be trying them out.

I sit sideways on a little plastic stool and use my bent leg as a fulcrum. I learned that from watching Willie Marcus sit on his railroad ties and fulcrum up daylilies.

I don't move the whole pile, usually. I just move the front half, and then I pull the back half to fall over and kind of just mix it up a bit. Then I put the front half back on, at which point it becomes the top half.

My bin is 6x4x4 with no dividing structure and no front, so I don't lift compost up over anything, the biggest lifting is putting the top half back on, but I do it all from a back protective, short sitting position. All the work is in the shoulders and arms--and it's good for the bustline as well.

Depending on the size of your pile/bin, sometimes a bulb auger can do a good job of mixing things up. A bulb auger is like a drill bit that is several feet long and about 1-2 inches in diameter. Its normal use is to drill large holes in the ground to plant bulbs, but it does a pretty fair job of mixing compost, also.

There is a composting method using bags where you do not have to turn the pile.

Here is a link that might be useful: www.compostcomfort.com

If I could not physically turn a pile and had lots of space, I'd go with multiple piles. Set up a rotation, fill one, start another, it it takes a month to build a pile go with a six pile rotation. Keep 'em moistish and poke something into them every once in a while and wiggle around to create an air passage.

Lloyd

Even a strait, sturdy stick can mix in a little air. Just stick it into the pile and mix around in a circle, like a mixer. It's not the most complete mixing but beats a blank.

I sometimes do this with the handle of my compost fork.

Karen

I'm 6'1", 200 pounds and I'm not afraid of work. Turning the pile is work.

I'd go with Lloyd's recommendation - use multiple piles. Just be sure to make the piles with some care. Be sure to get a reasonable mixture of greens and browns.

If you haven't seen loid's web site, you need to go there. He experiments with composting techniques, mixtures, applications, everything.

Turning the pile is not a necessity. If you don't turn the pile, it will take longer to finish, but it will finish.

BTW, how healthy is your husband?

You cannot imagine the junk that I pulled out of the tiny trash filled patch that has become my garden! Hot water heaters, rusty cans of solvents, beer bottles....but in addition to all of this was a golf club that I use as a compost "stirrer."

I try to turn my pile every day, Monday through Friday, and when things get too matted together for the shovel, I use the golf club. It's great at grabbing and tossing around hunks of clumped-together weeds.

I'm not trying to be a smart aXX, but my preferred method is is the front end loader on my tractor. I installed a 8' gate on my pile so I can get my tractor in.

That being said, even then I don't turn it very often. I keep it moist and let it do it's own thing.

I sit sideways on a little plastic stool and use my bent leg as a fulcrum.

!

:o)

Dan

You could build your pile at the top of a hill, then turn it by pulling the material down in front so that you rebuild the pile just below its previous position. By the time you get to the bottom of the hill, you've got finished compost. This assumes you've got a hill, and you don't care what's growing on it, and you like the look of a standalone pile (I think they look quite rustic, like an old fashioned haystack).

What?

Here is a link that might be useful: Willie Markus

short n sweet
pallet bin (with a pallet on the bottom)
digging bar.
fluff it (it doesn't take much)
it all leads back to compost