Your weekly update on all things compost related
Happy St. Roch Sunday! This week we didn’t collect any compost from the Green Project, as it was closed for Thanksgiving. Actually, most of the farm and garden sites were closed throughout the weekend. I put out three bins, instead of our regular two at the Galvez Garden in case we got some extra visitors. I’m so glad I did, because sure enough, we filled all three bins this Sunday!
In preparation for this week’s collection my husband helped empty out the remaining compost from our first compost pile this morning so we could be ready to collect in a new area. We refilled the living wall sculpture and still have some remaining compost from our first round. He also worked this weekend turning our full bin that we are no longer adding to and I am happy to report we have lots of heat and steam from that pile. The decomposition process is underway! Unfortunately, it also has an odor. It’s not horrible, but not ideal and a sign that more carbon is needed. I added more browns to the pile before letting it sit to hopefully combat the issue and correct the problem. I believe it’s a moisture issue, so we’ll start with this approach before taking additional measures. If it’s still stinky next week, I may need to take additional steps; stay tuned!
Here’s a look at our dumpy little compost area. She’s not a pretty set up, but it gets the job done! I show this with the utmost humility, as we know it’s not pretty, yet we remain pretty proud to have saved money by making it all from recycled materials. It demonstrates how anyone can compost, anywhere, and it’s demonstrated to serve its purposes at our site.
I have placed a pallet board on top of the compost we’re done adding to, with a “do not disturb” sign, to deter anyone from adding to the pile and thereby unintentionally restarting the clock on the process.
Our new pile was cleared of the remaining compost (we had 5 additional 5 gallon buckets worth that I wasn’t about to give up) and what you see in there are some gardening scraps. I pulled out the beans that had been so prolific and placed them inside the new area this morning. The liquid substance is actually the insides of some eco friendly ice packs someone dropped off. The product inside is 100% compostable, so we tossed it in the bin.
Here’s our collection of greens from this week.
And finally, after adding bins to the pile, here’s what we were left with.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I got to show my family around the garden. They loved it! They were noticeably less excited about the compost pile, but I’ve come to accept that not everyone shares my enthusiasm on the topic. Somewhere along the line I became really into the subject, and I understand that it’s not as interesting to everyone, C’est la vie. Here’s some photos we got along the way.
It was great watching my parents play with my daughter at the place that has come to be so special to us as a family. Dylan had a blast showing them around the garden!
We’ve replaced the beans I pulled this morning with two new artichoke plants and some nasturtiums. To date, I have not been successful with growing artichokes, so I’m hopeful this year we’ll have better luck. They are grown as perennials in some areas and I would love if that could be the case in our garden!
We’re thankful for a lovely visit with family and so grateful for the garden! I hope y’all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and thank you for helping in our efforts to divert waste from landfills.
From our family to yours, happy composting and wishing you the best of luck with your garden projects as we head into winter!
I dig it. 
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