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Soil, Compost & Mulch

A new compost for winter...Long and boring.

14 years ago

I know I can't/wont trek through the snow to get to my compost piles so I set Up a home made tumbler 20 ft from the kitchen door.

I filled it already.

Really lazy of me I know, but I set it up 2 weeks ago and I didn't know it would fill up so fast.

I cut 1/4 off an olive barrel and attached hard ware cloth to the cut end. It's suspended off the ground about 1 ft. I stuck a rebar through it so I could flip it. OK, it's really my homemade sifter, but I was hoping it could double as a winter composter. I got all kinds of nasties in there, and so many paper plates and food boxes like the kind cereal comes in. And I just threw in a turkey carcass. Any chance at all this will rot down so I can use it all winter?

It seemed like great idea at the time, but...

Now that censored this it's not long, just boring lol But I would like some advise. Just don't tell me to dump it.

:(Laura

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Comments (5)

vermontkingdom
14 years ago
I suspect your home tumbler probably isn't large enough to maintain a composting temperature. Over the years I've tried various tumblers and, at this point in December, active composting had almost always come to an end. However, over the last several years I've had a large staionary composting system, 8 x 4 x 5 feet, and it has been able to cook away. I think you might have a very unpleasant task of emptying it next spring if you don't deal with it now.
dave
paulns
14 years ago
You deserve two gold stars, one for ingenuity and another for optimism. :) I'd aim for what's in there to be as close as possible to 'as wet as a wrung out sponge' with lots of 'browns', then leave it alone until next summer. In the meantime set up some other composting system. A trash can with a lid and holes in the bottom + worms, or an indoor worm bin, or just a pile outdoors, or get an earth machine. Our county subsidized these so they cost $30. Is there a similar offer where you live?

IMO a small precious limited space like a tumbler or earth machine is too important to fill up with cereal boxes, which can go in the recycling bin, assuming there's a program in your area.
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sfallen2002
14 years ago
Like the man in Jaws said...

You're gonna need a bigger "boat"...

Assuming you can't do worm composting in your basement, you obviously need a bigger pile to expect it to do anything over winter. Assuming the carcase was cooked to death for soup stock before it went into the pile, I wouldn't think it would stink too badly come spring temps.

And if your're using manufactured browns like cereal boxes you probably are tearing them into pieces for more rapid breakdown... I just checked my pile and it's frozen already - approx 6x8x3 - I'm guessing you might want to rethink your bin.
auntyara
Original Author
14 years ago
This is what it looks like
auntyara
Original Author
14 years ago
I guess it didn't work. sorry
:)Laura

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