Making a 3 bin composter for PEP

So here's my oddball attempt at a 3-bin compost system with bins that are 8' W x 5' L x 4' H. Should be enough to ensure proper aeration but also enough critical mass to get hot composting which is what I want to use to cook the hell out of any seeds, fungi, spores, etc.

Day 0 started a while back when I started digging holes for the uprights for my system. I realize you don't necessarily have to do this, but I don't want to have to build a bin again for a bit, so I'm making the bastards count!! I've been at it digging those holes for a while because the soil here is about 95% boulders, so it's been a process. Probably you'll see some of the stupidly huge rocks in my photos, and they are all wedged one on top of another, almost like they were put that way intentionally, though probably it's just how time and gravity have done their thing.

Day 1:
Hole with post number 1. I found a ton of old fence posts and boards for free at a fencing place in town and base several trips to hoard them. I have pictures of one of the holes, pictures of some of the tools I used (bevel, plumb line, carpenters pencil, saw, hammer, nails, shovels, pulverized lime, all purpose gravel, measuring tape). Also have pics showing us checking that posts are plumb and showing various stages of filling and tamping around the post. Holes are much larger than posts because we had to haul out boulders. We back-filled with rock and dirt and tried to create just a bowl of stones around the posts that we could fill with a small amount of lime and gravel.

I'm using lime on the suggestion of a poster in the natural building section who suggested that it creates a kind of flexible but solid material after it absorbs moisture from the soil. So it should avoid cracking but be strong enough to hold steady and the gravel will provide good drainage away from the posts.

I also charred the bottom 3-4' of each post to further increase rot resistance.



THIS POST IS A WORK IN PROGRESS, just posting my photos as I go because internet is very unreliable out here and I have to upload one photo at a time which is painful, so doing a handful each day as I make progress is much less awful.

D.W. Stratton wrote:So here's my oddball attempt at a 3-bin compost system with bins that are 8' W x 5' L x 4' H. Should be enough to ensure proper aeration but also enough critical mass to get hot composting which is what I want to use to cook the hell out of any seeds, fungi, spores, etc.

Day 0 started a while back when I started digging holes for the uprights for my system. I realize you don't necessarily have to do this, but I don't want to have to build a bin again for a bit, so I'm making the bastards count!! I've been at it digging those holes for a while because the soil here is about 95% boulders, so it's been a process. Probably you'll see some of the stupidly huge rocks in my photos, and they are all wedged one on top of another, almost like they were put that way intentionally, though probably it's just how time and gravity have done their thing.

Day 1:
Hole with post number 1. I found a ton of old fence posts and boards for free at a fencing place in town and base several trips to hoard them. I have pictures of one of the holes, pictures of some of the tools I used (bevel, plumb line, carpenters pencil, saw, hammer, nails, shovels, pulverized lime, all purpose gravel, measuring tape). Also have pics showing us checking that posts are plumb and showing various stages of filling and tamping around the post. Holes are much larger than posts because we had to haul out boulders. We back-filled with rock and dirt and tried to create just a bowl of stones around the posts that we could fill with a small amount of lime and gravel.

I'm using lime on the suggestion of a poster in the natural building section who suggested that it creates a kind of flexible but solid material after it absorbs moisture from the soil. So it should avoid cracking but be strong enough to hold steady and the gravel will provide good drainage away from the posts.

I also charred the bottom 3-4' of each post to further increase rot resistance.



THIS POST IS A WORK IN PROGRESS, just posting my photos as I go because internet is very unreliable out here and I have to upload one photo at a time which is painful, so doing a handful each day as I make progress is much less awful.

Adding more photos. It looks like I'm unable to edit my previous post, maybe it's been too long?

I've added furring strips to the uprights in the front and a few sideboards. The idea is the front slats will drop down into a gap between the furring strips and the side boards such that they are removable. That means I can leave the front open when I only have a little compost in and build you the front as I fill the pile up.

To avoid filling Oddball up with partial submissions, please make a separate thread for longer projects and then post once in Oddball when you're all done.  I moved your two submissions over to this spiffy new thread.  

This post will self destruct in 1 day...

Mike Haasl wrote:D.W. Stratton,
I have merged your topic into this topic. I hope that helps.

Thanks, will do this in the future!