Extreme Composting

sticky_burr · #**741** 12/30/10, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forerunner

Running household grey water through compost is a good idea.... IF your piles consist of enough mass to handle the volume of water, and heat enough to clean that water up suitably. My advice would be to switch to as natural of soaps and cleaners as you possibly can and work on cutting your water usage tremendously.
We're down to an average of less than 25 gallons a day for a family of seven, so, it can be done.
Methane production is said to potentially enhance N to the point that further composting is often preferred to balance and buffer that potent ingredient.
I'd say, half spent sludge/half sawdust. What a blend.

i will be seperating off black water toilet and gray wash/rinse water. gray i will likely just irrigation or pump into a wee home made wetland. i am thinking of putting the nasty stuff to use

taylorlambert · #**742** 12/30/10, 11:46 PM

Im working on a deal now to take 150 Cubic ard load of mixed grass, hays straws, and leaves from anoter landfill 150 miles away. MDEQ and I are talking now how to do it legally as an on farm set up. If I can long term lease another filed I will build piles there. I would be getting 2 loads weekly for 3 months.

Landfills value thier air space at 1.50 to 5.50 dollars a Cubic foot. They want to divert as much as they can. I had to get certified to run our landfill this year as a state wide recomndation. I met alot of landfillers that just mix there yard waste in with rubbish. Its a shame to after seeing what a couple tons of leaves tilleed in my gardens did for the soil.

The city here throws their stuf in an illegal dump bag and all. Im debagging them and also setting up a place to take from them. Our town and county dont charge the resident to bring stuff in but if I bring it in an a 2 ton truck I get hit with 9.50 dollars a yard. The county wonders WHy they cant maintain euipment and have no budget when residents bring in tousands of tons per year on trailers.

What Im working on if I cant get it is that they will take the yard waste and pile it. THen leave me a trackloader ot that site to load my trucks THen they dont use space or have to handle it 4 times.

bjacobson · #**743** 01/03/11, 05:56 PM

I have just finished reading all 25 pages of this post and I really got the itch to do more composting. I have done it on a small scale for 20 years or so but I can really see how Forerunner is improving his land with his piles. That compost looks so nice and rich, I am sure it will do wonderful things for your soil.

silverbackMP · #**744** 01/03/11, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjacobson

I have just finished reading all 25 pages of this post and I really got the itch to do more composting. I have done it on a small scale for 20 years or so but I can really see how Forerunner is improving his land with his piles. That compost looks so nice and rich, I am sure it will do wonderful things for your soil.

I know what you mean. Back home, I know where there are several acres of sawdust around several sawmills.

Gotta get my dad's old dump truck running (full sized mid 70s International w/ 400 cummins), new/recapped tires on it, etc.

My tractor does have bucket.

Still trying to figure out a nitrogen source that I can procure while home on leave. I'm thinking either chicken/turkey manure or just dump a bunch of regular nitrogen fertilizer in the mix to "speed things" up.

greif · #**745** 01/04/11, 01:34 PM

there was an accident on a farm near by last spring, a guy fell in the tub grinder and his wife found him after he did not come home for supper, grinder was still running.

I know some of the fire dept guys that had to go to it and they had to just run the aguer to get him out.... nothing left..... be careful

Forerunner · #**746** 01/07/11, 06:37 PM

I've given this some thought.

I can see the attraction.
I've spent the last few days imagining myself with my very own, brand new, 500 horse tub grinder. I can see myself standing on the platform, elbows on the side of the tub, chin in my hands, smiling so big I make a scene for the bystanders.... watching all manner of carbonaceous, nitrogenous, trace mineralous, tree stumpness, brushness, weedness, carcassesness and roadkill, etc. get ground to paste and mixed to perfection.

If anyone ever finds my remains in the bottom of a running tub grinder, my only wish is that they add enough carbon-rich material to balance my very personal life-long accumulation of nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, sulfur and various trace minerals and then run me and the rest of the rich blend into a deep, hot compost pile to rest happily in peace (and pieces).

taylorlambert · #**747** 01/07/11, 07:33 PM

Icould see it now Garden centers bidding for Forerunner in a can.

Forerunner · #**748** 01/08/11, 04:53 PM

For the newbies and otherwise innocent-at-heart, it should be known that there are some nuts and bolts articles on various stages, applications and concepts of composting in the Survival forum. Angie put them all together in a sticky, but here they be for convenience sake.

Compost as a Matter of Survival
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sho...d.php?t=328510

Compost as a Matter of Survival, part twol
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sho...d.php?t=328752

Compost, part three, The Pile
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sho...d.php?t=329548

Composting 4, Vermiculture and Various Thoughts
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sho...d.php?t=331442

am1too · #**749** 01/09/11, 11:05 PM

I am wondering a little. I talked to the extension agent the other day. I suggested that I was going to just spread my compost over the top of the dirt and plant grass. He said not so good and idea. I really don't have a way to till and have to many stumps that would make things next to impossible. Lots of small stumps (3" down) are kick removable in 3 to 5 years. I have just been cutting them off at the ground. Have stumps upto 30".

The links did not work for me.

Forerunner · #**750** 01/10/11, 10:44 AM

Spreading compost thinly over existing sod or bare dirt works just fine.
I try to spread mine, say, in an existing hay field, just before a rain so that the nutrients are somewhat washed into the soil rather than sitting in the sun to deteriorate.
If you spread good, finished compost over existing soil and plant grass in it, and the weather is in your favor, you should be successful in your intentions. Tilling it is always better, but not absolutely necessary.

Could we have a moderator look into why the links from the Survival forum composting sticky won't work ?

mudburn · #**751** 01/10/11, 11:03 AM

Hey, Forerunner, it looks like the links left something out. Here they are:

Compost as a Matter of Survival
Compost as a Matter of Survival

Compost as a Matter of Survival, part two
Composting for Survival, part two.

Compost, part three, The Pile
Compost, part three; The Pile

Composting 4, Vermiculture and Various Thoughts
Composting 4, Vermiculture and Various Thoughts

You can put these in your post and I'll delete this one if you'd like.

Edit: actually, when copying and pasting, the links leave out part, replacing it with ". . ." so then they don't work.

mudburn

Forerunner · #**752** 01/10/11, 02:53 PM

The devil is in the details.
Thanks for correcting that oversight.

mudburn · #**753** 01/10/11, 02:57 PM

I'm glad to help, and now they are actually at the top of a new page. Even better!

txplowgirl · #**754** 01/12/11, 08:59 PM

Hi everbody, I just read this entire thread today. I'm a little woozy at the moment but I just wanted to say to you Forerunner and Mudburn. The two if you ROCK

I'm just a wannabe homesteader, but when I was a kid my dad did the gardening and it was my job to take care of the compost piles. I miss those days of burying my hands deep and coming up with handfulls of that beautiful black stuff.
Right now, I have a small house in the middle of a little town and with all the regs they have I wouldn't be surprised if composting was against the rules.
I'm a truck driver so i'm not home all that much, but my sweetie and I are talking about getting a bigger place.
I was telling him about wanting to do some composting and he thought I was nuts. So, I see i'm gonna have to convert him. lol, Anyway, Forerunner thank you for this thread.

dancingfatcat · #**755** 01/21/11, 01:26 AM

Just wanted to let you know that my compost pile, after turning it twice is nice and black and will be ever soooo wonderful come April, when I plan on using it.

Yes, I have started yet another "new" pile

. And as a side note, most people, gardeners and friends think I am crazy when I ask for their bags of leaves and grass clippings, I just smile while thinking, "black gold!"

Thanks for the education in composting

Forerunner · #**756** 01/21/11, 08:21 AM

Thank you, Plow Girl and Fat Cat.

The local sale barn here is a family owned holdout that is doing quite well, many other small and major sale barns in the state having recently shut their doors.
They have wisely enhanced their use of wood shavings and sawdust, though those commodities have increased dramatically in cost in this area in the last ten years.
It is becoming a very full time, part-time job keeping them cleaned out.
My new new pile is rapidly becoming another mountain.
Good thing I just picked up another acre of flat to the north of (adjacent to) my existing upper field in a recent acquisition of largely forested ground.
There is a deep and wide ravine that runs parallel to my new north line, just south of my new north line

.....that runs quite a bit of water several months of the year before it dries up in late summer.
I have a bulldozer...

Within a year or two I may have to open up an extreme hydro-power thread.....

Trisha in WA · #**757** 01/21/11, 01:23 PM

We just started a second pile here last week. I am planning to cover the first one (16'x10'x4') with a tarp to keep in the heat and moisture (very cold and dry climate) and hope that it does a nice job of cooking for use in spring. I know it isn't a huge pile, but we are still using just what we can generate and doing it with a wheelbarrow and shovel. I think we're doing OK. OH if only we had a tractor (sigh)

Freya · #**758** 01/22/11, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forerunner

Within a year or two I may have to open up an extreme hydro-power thread.....

There had better be a TON of pics!!!!

dancingfatcat · #**759** 01/25/11, 01:51 AM

Trisha in WA, sounds like we are building the same pile the same way

Hey, my motto is "what ever works!"

funny thing is, most people I know think I'm a little crazy when I talk about my compost, but that's ok

ChristieAcres · #**760** 01/25/11, 02:46 AM

When people tour my garden, I often hear "everything looks like it is bionic or on steroids" or some other exclamation of wonder. My response? COMPOST, LOTS OF IT!

Forerunner, that rabbit hutch compost experiment was so successful, I am doing it again! We have that going and a few other piles. Our results have been incredible! There are four new beds, mostly Garlic, with a lot of both the composted manure and our own compost mixed in. The results will speak this year! Most of my Elephant Garlics were over 1# and my Purple Striped German Garlic reached 1/2#. There is an area for traditional gardening behind my beds. Still planning that one. The entire orchard will be my next gardening venture. That will require a lot more compost!