"Edible Garbage"?

I have too much to say and I run on and on. If i want to convey useful information I need to do it in a better way or reduce how much I say at one time. Basically, more organized with fewer and shorter tangents.

I tried to write about Gardening and its many parts in April of 2018. I started with Composting and intended to say things about all the parts; composting, cultivating, tools, fertilizing and so on. Didn’t follow through. Got lazy maybe. Or too involved. Or forgot?

I’ll provide a link to that way unfinished effort and you can make whatever comparisons and contrasts you find. Growing stuff has become an essential part of keeping aging from winning and a significant part of growing things is creating Compost. What we do now works as efficiently as I am able and choose to make it.

Our Composting is done in a Concrete Block structure that’s 5 1/2 Blocks wide, 2 1/2 deep and 4 High. The front is open and secured with a 2 x 4 frame fitted with 1 Inch Wire that slides on a couple of 2 x 4 and is held in place with 3 Block high “Ls” on each side. The inside is divided by a 3 Block high partition that’s 1 1/2 deep. The top is another 2 x 4 frame. It has worked well for seven years even after relocating it.

Initially our Composting was done in the open on the Eastern edge of the Garden. Flat and potential planting space, it had to be moved after five years, more or less. Being a sunny space was good for planting more so than doing the physical stuff associated with Composting. Moving the Concrete Blocks was aided by an industrial stength Hand Truck, but, do the math . . . 60+ blocks, of 30 pounds, plus or minus, 3 blocks at a time . . . fifty feet . . . over grass . . .thirty feet . . . I was younger then.

The Composter is now in a minimally “developed” space that’s shaded on the East side by a large, tall Bamboo. There’s been no obvious change in how quickly and how efficiently it produces usable Compost while making it less burdensome to to the necessary physical stuff.

The process we use does not involve any “turning” as described in many discussions about the “correct” way to control the rotting of “edible garbage”, the term used for stuff in the dump we used to guard in Vietnam. That’s a story for another time.

Our method is simple; fill one side to some subjective level (“That’s about high enough.”) then start using the other side until it’s subjectively “full”. When that day arrives the old stuff is sifted to separate compost from vegetable matter. Compost is added to a pile and the still vegetation-like stuff is added to a nearby Fencing Cylinder. When that Cylinder reaches the same kind of subjective level it’s sifted and the still-not-compost is added to a second, similar Cylinder.

Obviously, having more than 60 Concrete Blocks contributed greatly to the kind of structure we would and would create. Accumulated lengths of wire fencing stimulated the Cylinder idea. It’s as efficient and handles our “edible garbage” disposal.

The images give a general idea of what the major, stationary items are. Of equal importance, of course, are the tools and a source of mulch that must be used to cover fresh additions to the Composter. More about the tools will follow, eventually.

A last observation about Composting animal “edible garbage” is this; IF you construct a Composter properly neither the smell nor vermin invasion will happen. Raccoon, possums and rats have not yet gotten into the Composter where we have routinely disposed of fowl bones and bits and pieces of beef, pork and fish. We do not have bears or alligators nearby. Coyotes live here and around. When there was evidence of something digging along the bottom of our sliding closure, a two pieces of 2 x 4s on which the closure could slide serves as sufficient prevention.

Smell has never been an issue. We cover fresh additions with a serious cover of mulch and are careful to cover all the new stuff.

The actual amount of animal matter that we add to compost is quite small so the chances of salmonella or other nasty biological issues is essentially zero.

The final “issue” discussed elsewhere about composting animal “edible garbage” is that it takes a long time for it to decompose. Our method is length. More than a year can pass before we do anything with the Fence Cylinders. Patience happens because the entire method take a long time.

Soon, I’ll say things about Tools and the Method we use.