gravity fed compost systems, anyone have one?

Image from the 2017 Permaculture Calendar..

Anyway, does anyone have a working one of these set-ups? For some reason when I saw this picture I was like OMG THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE! But idk, because I've never seen one in person.

The little description on the calendar says this:

"This set of optimum sized compost bays uses the natural slope of the block to make compost turning easy. When the top bay (at house level) gets full, Joel moves the divider between bays, and rakes the compost into the next bay down with the assistance of gravity, turning and aerating the material. At each turn microbial action makes the compost heat up, resulting in a rich and well composted mix at the bottom for the nearby orchard and garden."

Thoughts?

The most amazing version I've seen is the one Steve Heckeroth built, which, not surprisingly, was documented by Paul towards the end of the following video:

OMG this makes so much sense! Thank you for posting this.

I don't have one - but I want one! Just trying to figure out where to put it . . .

Ryan Sharon wrote:The most amazing version I've seen is the one Steve Heckeroth built

That video is now 4 years old. I'd like to know how well that actually worked.

How hard is it to pull the barriers? Does the weight make it difficult? Is the barrier (especially the top one) all covered with stuff when you pull it out?

How well did it actually work? How long does it really need to process?

I can't comment from personal experience, but I seem to recall a podcast in which Paul said it had been in use for several years prior to the video being made.

As for the other questions, I believe several of them were addressed in that same podcast.

I definitely recall him saying that up to that time it was so efficient that so far nothing had come out at the bottom.

It sounds like you want something that WILL yield some...'product', in which case it seems logical that you could reduce the number of chambers or reduce the time between cycles.

Unfortunately, I don't know of an easy way for you to search the podcasts other than by title.

Perhaps Paul could comment on this? (Sorry, Paul. I know you have a thousand other things going on)

Ryan Sharon wrote:

I definitely recall him saying that up to that time it was so efficient that so far nothing had come out at the bottom.

What do you mean it was so efficient nothing came out of the bottom?

If you are talking about the film. The reason there was nothing out the bottom yet was because the unit had only been in operation for a couple of years so he had not dropped the second year bin into the third year bin.

Miles Flansburg wrote:If you are talking about the film. The reason there was nothing out the bottom yet was because the unit had only been in operation for a couple of years so he had not dropped the second year bin into the third year bin.

It took an entire year to fill up one of the bins?! The ones in the guy's picture I posted looked like they would fill up quite a bit quicker than that. Hmm.