Crazy Composter! haha!

Heres some pics of my bins I built. Some veggies I took from dumpster diving.

Been grabbing leaf bags on the way home from work.. It's awsome when you have little time to gather materials and others do the work for you.
Please share your idea's of getting materials to compost. I have plenty of leaf's (Carbon) it being fall an all. Have a source of dairy cow manure near by too. Temp on compost was 125 today.

grass clippings are really good

I am curious what you are covering your pallets with and why? I use bins made from 4 pallets wired together, and it works really well for me.

As far as materials, I collect coffee grounds from a local coffee house. I bring them 5 gallon buckets with lids and they collect the grounds for me. I pick them up every few days and average about 3/4 of a bucket per day. The staff loves it since it keeps their trash lighter and cleaner. I mix the grounds with woodchips and fill up a pallet bin this way. With just those two materials, the pile will heat up to 160°F without turning or watering it.

Here is a link to a blog post about my composting with pictures.
http://wholeviewfarm.blogspot.com/2012/08/our-compost-system.html

I just have alot of heavy duty pond liner I salvaged from a construction site dumpster. I figured why not line the bins with this. I wont lose material through the pallet boards, it will protect the pallets from the weather, and draw more heat from the sun. Oh an wont accidently shove my pitch fork between the boards when im turning it. Just my idea and first bins I've built.

Is the coffee house a locally owned or franchise like Dunken Doughnuts? I'm guessing local, I'll have to look for one in my area. My friend collects all the coffee grinds at work like that for his worm bins. As for grass clipping, I met a fellow today that asked what I was going to do with the bags of leaf's I was taking that he put out for garbage. He thought it was interesting and also mentioned he bags his grass in the summer. An I could have this grass if I made sure I picked it up. So I told him I'd stop back in the summer to arrange it.


I'll like your bins how long does it take to turn to soil?

This is the first compost I've ever seen that would go good with a light vinaigrette.

If I just fill the bins with a good mixture of Carbon and Nitrogen and don't turn them, it takes about 12 to 18 months to break down. Depends on the temperatures and precipitation. Every time you turn it you can cut that roughly in 1/2. If you have a great mix of finely shredded material with the right amount of moisture and turn it daily, it can be fully broken down in as little as two weeks.

I can see some pros and cons to using the pond liner. Pros are that it collects heat and holds moisture. Cons are that it blocks oxygen from getting in to the sides of the bin, and I wonder what substances could leech out of it and into the compost. I guess my opinion would be to ditch the liner. Oxygen is the key ingredient to high quality compost. Won't matter if you are turning it often, but I am lazy and prefer to wait for it while focusing my efforts on making more. Often I only let it break down 1/2 way and use as sheet mulch or hugelkulture material. I just like to get it hot once to pasturize out the seeds and pathogens. The bits of material I loose through the gaps I simply pile back on top.

Well I hope nothing leachs out. I did power wash some of the tarps I took. Im going to get more dairy cow manure an compost with leaf's it's a 10 parts leaf's 1 part cow manure. Think I'll leave the other bins open now and see if there's any differnt.