That's some nice looking 'post Lloyd.

Pretty stuff, Lloyd, as usual. And impressive amount!

Karen

I just drooled on myself looking at all that beautiful compost! (Am I the only one?)

Lloyd
You said you don't use this compost in your fields, do you just sell it? How much are we looking at in these piles? Is that all done in your windrows? I'm envious, looks great.

'Morning Ken

I sell some, I give lots away, it all seems to be gone by the end of the year.

I'm guessing there is about 140 yards or so in the screened piles and another 30 or so left to be screened. We goofed by putting the 'overs' back onto the unscreened pile. We should have waited until we had it all done before we re-screened the overs. Having all the sticks and stones mixed back in slowed us down at the end.

This 'post is from windrowed yard trimmings gone through a long heat cycle and long curing period (two years total). Any foodstuff composting goes through the multi-tumblers.

Lloyd

Lloyd--- I love your piles ---- and your operation---I have a question about cigarette butts --- I bet you get a few of them in your bagged leaves ----do they compost ok ?? -- or at all ??? Thx and Thx for the pics ---JE

Hi Joe

The composting is quite the hobby and only the whackos enthusiasts here understand. The guys at work think I'm totally off my rocker. DW doesn't mind so much, keeps me out of the bars. ;-)

Cigarette filters do not compost at all, or at least in the two years that I let it sit. The paper and any tobacco disappear of course, but not the filter. There are a few, but surprisingly, I don't seem to get a lot and they do stand out like a sore thumb so are easy to spot.

Lloyd

(No, eaglesgarden, you are not the only one.)

I think I have to go change my shirt...

Wow. I sure hope size doesn't matter.

Ahem... "I give lots away." I knew I had to come back and re-read that part.

I would like to inform you now that Nova Scotia is a very lovely place to live and there are some major pieces of land up for grabs - some very close to my humble abode - for those like you who are so incline to make wonderful compost and give it away.

I have already trained all Haligonians to set their bags to the curb every other week for you. Mondays is the south end, Tuesdays is the north end, Wednesdays is the west and so forth. No cigarette butts.

When should I book your flight?

I'm not gonna fall for that old trick!

You have to come and get it. You can either stop by the farm or pick some up in town. I have delivered to some worthy service organizations such as the Legion, schools or Community in Bloom, but you have to buy me coffee. ;-)

Lloyd

P.S. I've seen your compost piles and yard, you really don't need any help from me.

Awesome piles Lloyd.

I just love my yellow gold, but the black stuff somehow is more satisfying =:)

Lloyd
Let's see here, you don't garden, you give your compost away after what has to be a multitude of hours work, and your a happy camper. You must be even more demented than the rest of us. (I mean that in the kindest way)
I believe you are what they call a civic minded citizen and I like your sense of humor.
Ken

Gosh, and my wife complains about me getting a few dozen bags of leaves from neighbors. Your wife must be a Saint. I read an earlier post last week where you received over 2700 bags of leaves and can now see what you produce from them, black gold. For those of us who are serious composters, we both envy and extol you. I also commend your generosity and invite you and your wife, upon retirement, to head south, Vermont?

Do you have seaweed and lobster shells in Vermont, because that would make some really nice comp....Oh, that's right, you don't.

More demented? Ya it's possible probable.

What can I say, I like to make compost, it's not any one thing. It's the smell of finished compost, like a freshly turned garden. It's the silky smooth feel of screened compost as it sifts through your fingers. It's the magic of taking what many consider trash and making a desired commodity. It's the reaction of an experienced gardener when they see the 'post when I deliver it. (It's mostly elderly gardeners that really revere this stuff.) It's seeing a good gardener do magic with their seeds and soil. It's the solitude out in the field opening the bags in the morning. It's seeing the deer come out and nibble on all the apples that people throw away or the hawk diving out of the blue at a mouse I've disturbed. It's taking old cast off equipment and sprucing it up a bit to do a job.

People either "get" compost or they don't. If they don't, you can't make them "get" it but you can teach them to appreciate it a bit.

Or, I could just be nuts.

Lloyd

P.S. BTW, Thx for all the nice compliments.

Lloyd, Nice looking pile. Do you get many small stones with your leaves? I find that the city leaf compost has about 8 to 10% small stones. perhaps your screening gets these out. I have to hand screen and mash lumps by foot. also what do you do with all the trash screenings?...stones, plastic, glass, and wood

Hi Wayne

Thx, I get all sorts of stones, from larger than a fist to tiny tiny gravel (this is the reason we don't use the trommel screener for the windrow compost). Not a lot of volume of these rocks/stones as our leaves are collected off lawns and such. I don't get leaves swept off the streets.

There are always branches and twigs as well, some up to 1.5 inch thick. The vibrating screener takes anything over 5/8ths of an inch out. Screened out rocks go into the rock pile (we are in a pretty rocky area so every farm has rock piles), inert materials go to the dumpster and wood either gets put into next years windrows or spread out on the field and worked into the land. Quite often the sticks are very soft and can be mushed by hand if a person wanted to.

I generally get most of the larger trash pieces picked out when I de-bag as I build the windrow but the small stuff sneaks by so we have to screen.

Lloyd

So Lloyd, did you get it all screened? I see southern Saskatchewan got hit with a weather bomb dumping 30cm of snow with high winds yesterday and last night. You must have gotten some of it, eh?

Three inches of rain so far and 50 MPH winds. Didn't finish, and won't this year. We are going to start putting all the machinery away tomorrow. I was supposed to have 45 students come out for a tour today, they didn't show. Wimps. ;-)

Lloyd

Wow, Lloyd, great job, good lookin' stuff. Your operation is super. Before I saw your pic I was so proud of my little 3' tall, 5' wide screened pile. Might have to expand!
hortster
{{gwi:271332}}

I am rapidly cleaning the drool off my keyboard. Gee, I have been a compost wacko for many years, but seems like this year something special has kicked in to turn me into Homer Simpson.

Lloyd,

Oh my.. for a moment there when first viewing your photo I thought I could smell it. That perfect rich compost fragrance we all crave.

Then came the overpowering urge to stand at the edge of the pile, facing away from it, and fall back.. to make a lovely "compost angel"... ( you know..like a snow angel but in compost). :D

Love how your compost has a vintage; 2008.

I like your cozy compost area there hortster. I think I can see three active wire bins and the makings of more on the trailer and the trailer looks like an excellent unit for leaf scavenging (although I suppose you could use it for hauling wood in a pinch ;-)).

Your screener looks like it does the job very well judging by the finished product. Looking at the screen, is that a 1/2 inch over a two inch wire? I'm guessing the wire supports the finer screen? How do you get rid of the oversize stuff or is just broken up until it falls through? Park a 'barrow underneath and you're good to go.

Lloyd

I screened the city leaf compost on a ü" screen [hardware cloth.] I pitch it vertically at about 60ð.

Lloyd, you are correct. It is 1/2" hail screen over a rather light fence with a 2" x 4" grid used for support. The non-degradable stuff gets removed, but hard to break chunks and clods get tossed into the current new pile for a second try. It will always amaze me the numerous times the bin is filled to the top and drops. I do a two to 3 year rotation with three bins and the finished pile.
Again, Lloyd, good lookin' operation you have there.
hortster

pt03, I share the same zeal you have. Been making this leaf compost from almost trash for a year and if I have time in the day and do not do something in the pile I feel I let myself down. After getting it tumbled enough and moisture right then thru the screener the 100% 4-10 year old leaves are turned into a potting soil like material... Really proud of the finished product..
pictures,

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daguvanuh/

Outstanding!!

I've marked you as a contact on flickr. Please, please post more pics. Love your tractor and screener. Just shouted out to DW, "See, I'm not the only one who does this"!

Thx for posting.

Lloyd

Have no more pictures... Will take one some morning when I screen some more. When its cool and I drop compost in the screener the steam cloud makes everything in front disappear. It makes for slow going but it validates that the heat is there. My source is municipal leaves and the street sweeper dumps in the same vicinity so the trash has to be screened out. Vibration also shakes the few clumps into the 3/4" grid.... Some still goes to the "overs" pile. I keep them and work thru it another time slowly and reduce the overs by about 50%. The 2nd time thru the rocks, sticks, clumps and trash are seperated and dispensed to the landfill(trash) or the gully.
Everyone needs a hobby and this one as most is comsuming. Cost of product is zero. I run a dump truck so when I have nothing to do I haul as they load me free.. Most is at least 4 yrs old. Have room to keep about 50 loads in process and it takes about 4 months after I get it to finish out as I like ... Very interested to learn more of yours and others experiences on sourcing, maturing finishing, and finding end market for the product. Been very blessed here to market finished compost by the 20 yd dump load.
Yours is beautiful and the effort you put in it shows... Let me commend you on those piles.. TL

That is some choice looking compost! Keep up the good work!

Send some to Toronto Loyd...I'll pay you for it.

Very nice compost and a big farm you have too. What do you use to make this compost?

Thx guys.

"What do you use to make this compost?"

It is all yard waste yard trimmings. Grass clippings, leaves, garden/flower bed plants and some wheat straw. I don't do manures.

Lloyd

Not much going on today so I went to city leaf pile for a few loads... Muddy in my dump zone so after I placed the drops above the other heating piles I then had to relocate them with the tractor... The smell is my comment right now.
In trying to describe 8 year old leaves that have been 10 feet deep in a packed row my "smeller" was telling my brain it seemed almost a molasses smell with someone smoking aromatic cherry pipe tobacco nearby....
About 3 hours of shear delight..

We are in the presence of compost greatness here folks.
I'm in complete awe !

and to think.. it used to be the Beatles that gave me the little heart flips.

Changed pictures this morning. Took some of grandson spending time dropping thru screener. Wish I had more time today.. Sorry date is wrong on pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daguvanuh/

opps did not hyperlink

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daguvanuh/

Lloyd

It is confirmed. I have compost envy.

Thx mom.

""Took some of grandson spending time dropping thru screener."

Nice! And this is just a suggestion, if your tractor is anything like mine noise wise, see if you can get the young lad to wear some hearing protection. I wish I would have when I was young. :-(

Lloyd

Wow, now that is compost! Wonderful looking stuff. Im drooling and motivated again to go play in my bins! Thanks for the photo and your posts your example makes me happy(-: