Extreme Composting

I have to say this is an interesting and very informative thread. I am reading and learning hoping to implement some of these fine practices when I am able to move to a place in the country. Keep up the good works and deeds people and I will be watching and learning as you go.

buck_1one, that's an awesome truck.. hopefully I can get something similar one day.

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http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/

Thank you, thank you very much. I looked long and hard to find what I wanted. I drove 38 hours round trip, straight through, to get her and bring her home with me. You have my best wishes in getting "something similar one day".

I started working on raising the bed sides up today when I got home form work. I got the sides and the headboard on. Made a tailgate, of sorts, but got rained out and did not get to finish. I took the sides up to a full 4' high. Hope to finish it up tomorrow, weather permitting.

It does not look real pretty, but it is strong and will not be on the truck forever either. This should give me a little over 11 cubic yards in the bed.

Buck

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America - made in China

Well I've been a busy little beaver today. Got the box all finished up on the truck, got another load (good size one this time), and got a little over half of it unloaded before it got too dark to see.

Here are a few pics of my progress.

This is the driver side, notice the ladder and fork.



Passenger side, notice shovel.



Rear box and tailgate.




Reason for ladder. I've got to have some way up and into the bed.



Daddy's little helper.



Lastly, just playing in poo!! Oh no I'm covered in it, lol.



Hope you enjoyed,
Buck

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America - made in China

Why do I hear the theme song for the original Beverly Hillbillies ?

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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

We have trucks just like that running all around East TN!

Start playing and we'll all sing along! Great looking truck!

buck_1one: love the stake bed changes, I need that truck!

I'm still bringing in materials for the pile. Things slowed down for the last few days. The care taker of the fair grounds has been out of town and I've been dealing with some stomach issues the last few days.

This is where I've been dumping things until I can get all I want to make the compost pile. We received a little rain here the last couple of days. Went out and looked at the pile and...



It's only the upper part of the pile that is wet. Some parts are dry just a few inches down others about a foot deep.

Again this is not the completed compost pile, but I was happy to see steam

Buck

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America - made in China

I am trying to determine what manure source I should use for my carbon. I have about 3 dump truck loads of wood shaving at my disposal begging for some company.

When deciding, should I worry at all about what the providing animal eats or is inoculated with?

I dont know how one would go about asking those questions when trying to get manure from a sale barn, county fair or even local barn.

Here's to hoping it wont matter to the end product.

Use whatever manure you can get 'hold of, Joe.
I get occasional flak from the idealists, but most of them aren't serious about composting.
The heat of the pile is your biggest ally, and it sounds like you've more than enough material to get the temps right up where they need to be.

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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

Forerunner I wished you were closer I d send you half our landfill sawdust. We get a super fine powder that has a few laminate particles from a milling process from the plant. Its too dusty to sell as shavings. I put it down on the haul road for the winter for trucks to run on but when it saturates we windrow it and then pick it up with the scrapers and put it in a pile Im letting compost. The thing is with our site I cant ad manure. The piles are pretty hot I checked to day and the core is over 135. I bring a 20 yard load home when ever I catch a truck comming this way.

I have a word in with the supervisors, and 3 local vets for dead goats cows and horses and the state for deer carcasses. Manure here is hard to get folks think its bad for gardens and push it off in ditches but mention buy or trading them shavings for manure and they think its gold. I did make a score with one of the poultry houses near work. He lost 40 000 6 pound broilers to the heat and had to pay to have the dog food companies take them. I told him I d send the dumpsters for them if it happened again. Im building my carbon piles now about 10 feet wide at the base and a few feet tall to bedd thme in. Im also building a windrow turner for my Skid loader.

Is dry horse poop any good? That is will it heat up if it gets wet?

I cut my composting teeth on horse poo. Works well and easy to work with IMO. Keep in mind it has a lower N:C content than other manures, so depending on the bedding used in a stall, you may have to add more N to it.

Dry horse poo is a gift from God.

Taylor, if we lived closer, we'd be on the news.

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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

Ok I have an actual compost question finally!


If we get this certain property (the "trashed house" thread) I will start as big of a pile as I can.

Now what is there right now is a ton of dead cactus, some dried horse or donkey poo (cant tell which) and as much various mesquite trimmings and other desert type bushes (dont know what all they are yet) as I care to cut back on.

Now there is about twenty times more dead cactus than dried poo. If I were to shove those all together... what else should I put in there to get it cooking good? I have never made a really big pile before, only small ones and "tumblers". I also do not recall ever reading about composting cactus in any detail. It's no longer green but a sickly grey/white and rotting. There was a really unexpected freeze last year that killed a giant amount of succulants in the area.


Ok I am all open ears on this one!!!

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You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.

I dare say, pile it all together, mixed to the best of your ability, and add water.

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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

And here I thought it was going to be "difficult".

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You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.

Let that be a lesson to yuh.

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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

Great stuff here, and thanks to everyone who has shared their knowledge for the rest of us.

I live in a newer suburban neighborhood (for now) so the only composting I've been doing is primarily grass clippings, garden waste, and a few kitchen scraps. Very few leaves (no mature trees!) yet, but those that do get mowed up, bagged and added as well.

I get some compost eventually, but based on what I'm reading, I would surmise from what I've been reading that I am lacking carbon most of the year. In reading this thread, it appears that my best source of available carbon will be paper--newspaper, office paper, junk mail, etc., as well as cardboard.

I am assuming that this will work best if the paper, etc., was shredded first before adding, and should be used in layers with the grass clippings and other things. Is this correct?

Also...a lot of paper I get is the glossy stuff--is this okay to use as well?

Thanks in advance for the answers, and thanks for all the great knowledge!