CULT - compost bin

I just put together a new compost bin using hog wire panels that is working
really slick, so thought I'd pass it along. Hog wire panels from the local
coop are 12'x3', and have the wires close together to keep piglets from
getting out. I turned them upside down so the big openings are at the
bottom. The bin takes 5 panels. 
Bend a 90 degree angle into three of the panels with the horizontal wires to
the inside of the angle. It usually takes two people, one standing on the
exact center to weight it down, while the other pulls the end, and then both
people exerting pressure. This usually results on the person on the inside
falling. Use someone with a reputation for clumsiness for this job. They'll
expect to fall down.
Make a T of the two straight panels, tying them together with 6-8-inch
copper ground wire, which is about 1/4" diameter, twists easily with no tool
other than a wire cutter, which is the only tool needed for this project. 
Use the two bent sections to form two of your bins on one side of the base
of the T, and the third to make a bin on the other side. You will have three
bins, 6'x6' each, tied together top and bottom with copper wire. . 
You will also need 12 sections of eight foot black flexible pipe, the kind
you bury around foundations to drain moisture, with the holes in it. 
In building your first batch, use the center bin and lay three of the pipes
on the ground at equal distance, with the long ends poking into one of the
other bins so you don't trip over them while walking around it (unless your
clumsy companion still needs reinforcement that he or she is truly a Klutz,
in which case leave them sticking out.) 
Start adding your compost materials, grass clippings, weedings, household
garbage without meat, any manure you can find, preferably pretty well
composted so there is no odor problem; shredded brush, leaves, shredded
newspaper, wood ashes - anything organic. I designed this of a size to
handle a complete mowing of my three acres in a ridey mower with grass
catcher to fill one bin. 
When you have covered the first 3 pipes, put in three more running the
opposite direction - holes up in all cases. Continue to fill, spreading out
evenly with a pitch fork. The inside of the L formed by the bins is a good
place to chop leaves with the mower, or to store that pickup load of dried
horse manure you got from the stable, so you can add it as needed. 
In about 10 days - assuming you can fill a bin in a week, it will be ready
to get in there with a pitchfork and lay another set of pipes in an end bin,
and start turning it in. Then lay pipes in your other end bin and fill it.
In another 10 days turn both ends into the center, newest load first so it
can continue to work, even as you take compost off the top - you may need
three more pipes to get this started, then you can transfer three from one
of the other piles. The piles should have cooked down at least 50 percent by
this time, so your final bin in the center should be filled with
almost-ready-to-go compost in about 30 days. Just untwist the copper wires
at one corner to get to it. 
That's the theory, anyhow. At the worst, it'll take over 30 days, but the
pipes aerating the pile on the bottom with really speed up the process. When
turning, throw the stuff on the ouside, which hasn't really had a chance to
cook, into the center. It will probably be smoking if you've got green
grass, manure and/or household garbage into the mix. The garbage just
flat-out disappears! 
I haven't quite gotten the first one filled because I'm still mowing the
three acres with a push-type bagger mower, but I'm in great shape for the
sleveless t-shirt season.
James Brooks
Jonesborough, TN
hirundo@tricon.net
"Hale-bob-a-re-bopp, I finally saw the comet, but I didn't see no space ship
in the tail and I ain't ordering no purple robe."
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