Extreme Composting

......and a little communing, when no one is looking.

__________________
“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

as there are no more formal facilities on my farm as of yet, I can assure you I frequently add the number 1 and number 2 most beneficial and free composting materials.

I was there is January, you had cut back the bank on the far side to find solid ground and had started pushing up dirt. The near side you hadn't done anything with yet. It looks more like garrison Dam to me.



An earthen dam with a road across it.

If you are going to go extreme…



This is Phelps Mill in Otter Tail County, Minnesota. I don’t know how to do a link, so here it is the hard way.
http://www.co.otter-tail.mn.us/phelpsmill/

Here is the wheel for the mill. The lumber for the water chute has long disappeared. I believe it used to have two wheels, one for the brick part and one for the stick built.



One more image just for fun. I bet you wish you had this when building your dam.

__________________
Patriot Guard Riders http://www.patriotguard.org/

”Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe.”
~Noah Webster

Oh, hey the link worked, cool.

__________________
Patriot Guard Riders http://www.patriotguard.org/

”Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe.”
~Noah Webster

A page or two ago FR made mentioned of getting a load a day or even a load a week to build a compost pile. I thought I would do a load a day on the day I wasn’t working. Since I think I will be getting 10 pick-up loads of manure this spring, I need 10 loads of carbon, and my only source is the township compost pile in the fall/ winter.

First day when good. Second day I got delayed in town and it was pitch black by the time I got out of town, so no load that day. Today I was going to take two loads to make up for the one I missed. It was freezing rain this morning so I worked in the garage. This afternoon it took me about a half hour to shift the truck into four wheel drive as the linkage is broke and I have to craw under the truck. I could only get it into four low, the township pile is only about 4 miles away, so off I went. MAN 25 MPH IS SLOW!!! After two load the day was mostly shot for starting a new project, so back under the truck for another half hour trying to get it into four high. I could shift it into 4 low, natural, and 2 wheel drive by hand, but for the life of me I could not get 4 high. It wouldn’t have been so bad if, it was a half hour of being under the truck, but it was a half hour of wet concrete and make a shift, get back up in the truck to see if the indicator light was in 4x4, back under the truck, repeat, repeat , repeat, repeat, repeat…. I ended up with 4 pick-up loads today.

Loading at the township pile


Four loads at home.

__________________
Patriot Guard Riders http://www.patriotguard.org/

”Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe.”
~Noah Webster

You are a better man than me, Studhauler. Remarkable persistence.

Yeah and, gee thanks for the hydro pics.

Now I ain't gunna sleep for a week.

__________________
“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

Nooooooooooooooo!

Ewwwwwww Another one lost to that wily Poopman!
Stay strong people, stay strong

May the urge be with you.

__________________
“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 need to read the thread more often, won't stop smiling for a week...

__________________

Christie Acres
www.SequimForLife.com
http://www.irealtyvirtualbrokers.com...lori-christie/
http://luxurywaterviewhomes.com/
SequimLiving@gmail.com

I feel silly, but just have to ask. I was advised that fresh milk that is a bit old is good for the garden, at least out of season. If this is so, may I ask why that would be ?

It's calcium in soluble form. That means that it is ready for plants to be able to use it.

Martin

With that being said, could I use it on the house plants or garden starts, and if so should it be diluted ? And the cream factor ?

Use on house plants would depend upon requirements for each species. For example, I would never use it on African violets which do best in an acidic soil mix. On the other hand, cacti and succulents can handle alkaline soil and not be averse to a drink of milk now and then. Cream content would be no factor other than as protein to feed the soil bacteria. It would have no immediate affect on the plants, beneficial or otherwise.

Martin

What Martin said but in addition, the sugars feed the soil bacteria. I read in some organic magazine, maybe Acres USA, that a farmer used a few gallons of milk/acre diluted in water (can't remember the ratio but it seems it was very dilute, 1 to 20? 1 to 50?). He routinely sprayed this on pastures and felt that he had transformed the soil. Unfortunately, he had no non milk treated pastures as a test control to measure how much the milk had done and what his other practices did.

The general ratio is 1 gallon of milk to 20 gallons of water. There is was quite a study done on it as I recall, but I can't seem to find the link just now. If you Google milk as fertilizer, you'll get several sites talking about it.
If you're interested, there is also quite the lengthy discussion on the Keeping a Family Cow forum on this topic.

__________________
Trisha in WA
Visit my blog @
Diamond Belle Ranch

What else does a man have to do in his short time here on earth than build soil and feed people~Forerunner

In the last 7 days I got 16 loads of leaves from the township pile.


Look, there is compost tea running down the side of my truck while I am loading at the township pile. This stuff either gets burned or pushed over the edge of a hill, so I liberated it from a life of no good. It was like taking candy form a baby, except the tears were tears of joy from me.




Here are piles one and two. The one in front of the truck was all my lawn clipping and leaves from this fall. I mow 5 acres. It was at least 3 times as big as the pile behind the truck, when it was made in October. The pile behind the truck is two load of leaves that probably will not compost but just get tilled into the garden.




This pile is pile number three, It has the load of manure that I finally got. I don’t think it will compost this winter as it is frozen and has to much dirt in it. I just put three load of leaves on top of it to add some mass and hopefully a blanket of warmth if the manure does its trick.



This is pile number four; it has 10 loads of leaves from the township pile. It is also just a pile of leave / carbon, waiting for next spring when hopefully I can get 10 pick-up loads of manure.

__________________
Patriot Guard Riders http://www.patriotguard.org/

”Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe.”
~Noah Webster

I find that I can get the nastiest frozen material heating if I get one loader bucket out of a hot, working pile to place in the core of the nasty.....unless, of course, the C/N ratio is already way out of whack.

__________________
“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

Humm... "Dad, can I barrow your tractor again?"

__________________
Patriot Guard Riders http://www.patriotguard.org/

”Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe.”
~Noah Webster