Out Around the Barn

Composting has become very popular over the past couple of years and especially now in the time of our Country’s economic crisis.  Organic is huge in our grocery stores and in all the magazines, you will read article after article on how to grow organic food or which is healthier. 

I started a compost pile two years ago and didn’t quite get it figured out.  It wouldn’t heat up and seemed to take forever to change from vegetable scraps into compost.  I researched more and discovered that even in the winter it has to be kept moist, at least watered on a weekly basis.  I also discovered that I hadn’t made it deep enough.  I had layered it with leaves and manure from the horse barn but hadn’t made it thick enough.  So I stirred up what I had and started again.  

First, I raked up leaves and added a thick layer on top, then I went to the horse barn and cleaned a couple of stalls and placed that on top of the leaves, we had old sawdust in our livestock trailer and cleaned it out and layered that on then watered it well.  I waited about a week and cleaned an area in my chicken coup and placed that on along with some old straw, in between these layers there was vegetable scraps added as well as old newspapers (single layers or shredded), coffee and tea grounds and egg shells as we went along.  I then watered it again and left it set for another week.

As a little play on words here, our livestock supplies  a major ingredient to my compost pile.  It is good to use horse and chicken manure for your compost.  That is what I have heard was the best.  Also, to let your chickens, if you have them, scratch around in it will help keep it stirred.

Last week I went out to till my garden and get it ready to plant.  I wanted to add some compost to it as I tilled to add some nutrients to the soil but wasn’t sure it would be ready.    Since it had only been a couple of weeks since I redone my compost pile, I was almost certain I’d have to wait and just add it when planting but, to my surprise, it was heating well and after stirring it up, there was enough compost finished from the first layers that I could add it to my garden.

The compost that I did make last year and placed in my garden and around plants helped my harvest tremendously.  I had great results and consider it a very useful part of our farm tools and garden accessories.