Extreme Composting

Forerunner, in your expert opinion, is this an ok thing to do or a big no-no?
I put some of my wood ashes from the fireplace insert on my compost piles.
I get about one and a half, 2gallon buckets per week.
Sometimes i just spread the directly on my garden plot, sometimes i dump them on my compost pile.

Note: lesson learned early this winter, I had a bucket of ash from the fireplace, I let it sit almost 2 days outside in the bucket before dumping it on the compost pile. 3 days later i noticed smoke coming from the pile, that night I could see some red glowing, so i went out, hooked up garden hose and started watering the pile while digging in it to try to get fire out.

After a couple of hours, it seemed to be out.

Three days later I got up in middle of the night and happened to look outside and the pile was blazing on fire.


So, now, all ashes have to cool for several days or there has to be a lot of rain or snow before ashes go on compost pile.

Expert opinion.





*giggle*






Well at least you didn't call me a professional.


Ashes are best spread directly, especially where you are going to plant legumes and other crops that love their sweeter soils.
Potatoes kinda hate ashes....and ash does drive nitrogen from the compost pile....kind of a chemical reaction there.

Incidentally, ashes with live coals remaining can be a fire hazard in a dryish compost pile.









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“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Now you tell me.......

They're good to lend, nobody wants to use them again so they bring them back.

I thought they were kept as souvenirs.

Still used at my house. I suppose the reason I still have a few of the old steel grain shovels, is that they don't break, when used for materials other than grain.

(picture will be posted this weekend)

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I inherited a big old steel shovel. The handle had broken at some point so they slipped it into a full-length iron pipe and through-bolted it.
Heavy as sin.

Might make a good deadfall trap.

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Progress always seems faster when things are going downhill.

I had a good day. I feel like my composting took a big step toward extremism today.

We had a thaw this week, so about half of the snow melted. The ground is still frozen under the top inch of soil. Today was the first day I could get my new tractor around without getting stuck in snow. I got some deer carcasses away from the dogs and under sawdust. I fed the horses and new calves round bales. I mucked the horses shed and put a few loads of fresh sawdust out. I turned last years pile, it looks ready. No recognizable horse parts, just bones.

I bought feed and a new aluminum grain shovel! On the way back, my wife and I were discussing nitrogen sources, and I told her I would call the PA Game Commission, who have to dispose of a lot of road kill. We picked up my neighbor's sons at the hunter's safety course, and what was in the parking lot? A conservation Officer's truck, with two dead deer! After the class let out, I asked the guy what he was going to do with the deer, he said he has to drive an hour across the county to their 'deer pit.' The make a hole with a dozer, fill it with deer, and cover it with dirt. What a waste! He now knows where he can dump on this side of the county, and he delivered my first two donated dead animals! I started a new pile in the field near my sawdust source with the deer.

I also stated a new little pile in the garden with the horse shed muck and some waste hay, left overs the horses didn't eat. The new calves are in the garden, for now. They had half a bale from before, plus a new bale, but they ate the start of the new compost pile!

I also learned that my tractor's lights work well, and I can move sawdust in the dark.

Oh, how I love happy endings !

*blows nose loudly on his crusty old kerchief.....then dabs his eyes roughly with the same*


I just got this huge soft spot fer when STATE officials are given enlightenment and actually run with it.

__________________
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

My "ready" pile will be used up this spring in the garden and raised beds so my thoughts have been more on my current "working" pile. It started out last summer as a truckload of wood chips from the City and takes longer to be a finished product so I have been looking to combine my chicken coop/run clean up project into my working pile. I believe mixing in the rich chicken poo into it will give that carbon all it needs to feed my micro herd and finish converting the pile into black gold. This is the pile that I had to use store bought Nitrogen (ammonia nitrate) to get it started because I at the time did not have a source of nitrogen. It got hot for several months but now its just warm with plenty of carbon left.
I have already started collecting sawdust/shavings for my next pile and if I do it quick and right it might get ready before the wood chip pile but space wise I have to wait until the ready pile is used so I'll have room in my "approved" (by Wife)area for compost.

Intransigent wives are compostable.






Just saying, not recommending.

Some wives show their approval more creatively than others.




I have been known to use that stubborn pile or portion of a pile for side dressing near heavy feeders, and cover that layer with straw or other mulch to keep the richer nutrients of the half-finished compost locked away from air and sun.

I've also been known to let a particularly stubborn pile sit longer than it needed to, just to show it a lesson.

Patience can be a rod of discipline to be wielded by the advanced composter.

Of course, so can a bulldozer.




don't compost yer wife, Os

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“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Looks like my composting may very well have just gotten a boost. I have been looking for a chipper shredder for a while, just tonight found a decent one online for sale.
I am going to pick it up tomorrow, if it works and is in good condition.

If all goes well, my brush/burn pile will now get some use. I also figure I can shred leaves in the fall for chicken coop bedding.

Let me or DEKE know when you come across a mint condition, reasonably-priced (under a grand would be great.... ) tub grinder.

Morbark™ or Vermeer® would be my preferences.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Yeah, wouldn't that be nice. I'm sure those are a bit out of my budget.

Me, too, DB......me, too.......

























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__________________
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

I was recently bored or dreaming, not sure which, and shopped on a heavy equipment site for tub grinders. For a mere $100K, I could drive 1000 miles to haul back a tub grinder that needed an overhaul that would cost 1000's more. That awoke me from the dream.

Now that Purdy!

Well, on a far more humble note.....the local electric co-op dropped off two loads of woods chips this afternoon.

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“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Quick question. I'm sure the answer is already in this thread somewhere but I don't have the time/desire/battery to search.

Horse manure? Good to compost? Is it good for anything else? Or am I likely assuming a property with some very large piles of useless poo?

And by very large I'm talking multiple piles about the same size as a slug bug