Composting Is An Important Element Of Our Garden

Composter in the Garden

I am sure most people have seen these composters. Maybe you even have one in your yard or garden. They work good and should be used by everyone. It comes in handy to have it near your garden. Then you do not have to haul the dirt from it so far to your garden. Mine is right in the middle of our raised beds in our yard. It doesn't turn or do anything special. Just sits there. A lot of work is going on inside!

Up close, its not so pretty!

Since we have horses, we compost their manure. If you have some kind of livestock, composting their waste makes sense. Even if you only have chickens or rabbits. Every little bit helps. I also add raw food waste, like when you peel a fruit or vegetable or have some go bad. Don't throw them out! Put them in your composter. I even empty coffee grounds in mine.

Adding bedding hay and manure

Cleaning the horses' barn gives us a lot of manure. A lot more than what this little composter will hold! We only add it to that when it needs it. Most of it will go into our bigger compost pile out back. This composter has a little drawer at the bottom to take the composted dirt out of. Pretty simple design and easy to use.

The Big Composting Area

I have told on this blog before, but will tell it again in case someone new has arrived here. We have three basic piles. One for the new compost that we are adding today. That will just sit and compost. Then we have another pile that is from last year and the year before. That pile is not composted enough to use. Then the last pile is the one that has been composting for three years or more. That is the one we will be using this year.

Rich, Black Dirt full of  Worms!

Two years ago we had a massive summer squash plant growing in this compost pile. I could not believe how many squash I got from it, or the size of some of them. It did not look like any certain type, kind of a cross between a zucchini and the yellow squash. I canned them up and we have a huge supply that we are still eating from. Of course, it was kind of hard to get to the compost piles due to that plant. The other plant that grows in massive amounts in this compost pile is jewel weed. Jewel weed is a valuable medicinal plant to have around, especially if you get into poison ivy. Fortunately, I have never needed it!

Final Result!

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2013  Kathleen G. Lupole

Using Compost Piles For My Garden

 

I love my Neuton garden cart!

I take my buckets out to the compost pile in my Neuton garden cart. Since I have physical limitations now, this little cart has made it possible for me to still do some of my homesteading chores. I especially hated having to ask my husband to get my compost for me when he already has a huge amount of chores to do himself. If I ask him to do something for me, he is always ready to do it. But I like my independence and won't give it up without kicking and screaming all the way!

Compost pile presently being filled

Three separate piles of compost makes our composting work. The first pile is the one we are adding new manure to daily. This we leave alone. We do not stir it or take its temperature. We just let it sit and it will compost.

Jewel weed is growing on top of it!

The second pile is the one we added to last year. It will be used next year. It will compost and when it is time to use this pile, it will be rich black dirt. Better than purchasing fertilizer.

Empty....for we used it last year.

The third compost pile is the one we used last year. It is empty basically. You can take what is left as it is still good and will remain so until we start adding more to it.

Rich compost is the secret of our bountiful garden harvests!

And this is the compost pile I am using presently. All of the compost here will be added to our raised beds as they all need topping off. Today though, I am getting buckets of compost to start plants in containers. I like to fill all my containers as well as raised beds. You can NEVER have TOO much food!

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Carrying my buckets back to the garden area where I will fill my many containers. It is too cold yet to do much serious planting and transplanting my plants from indoors to outside. But this is something I do every year. I like to have the containers scattered around the yard too.

My helpers, Patches and Hobo.

How are you doing with your garden this spring? Or are you having too much rain? Or cold temperatures? Do you have a compost plan in effect? How is it working out for you?

Have a great homesteading day! 

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole
 All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole

Earth Day At Peaceful Forest

Today is the official Earth Day. I guess I was not really aware of it too much until I read another blog called The Snyder 5. Her blog post was "Composting For Newbies". It got me thinking as I have been actively composting and living as gently on the earth as I can for eleven years now. Ever since we moved here to Peaceful Forest Homestead in 1999. When we moved here we did not know what was in store for us. Everyone thought something big was about to happen when the year changed to 2000. Nothing happened and many homesteaders were disappointed as they could not wait to show off their skills and stuff and most important their preparations. It did appear as nothing happened but that was because there were many people working nonstop behind the scenes to make sure nothing did happen. The public just did not see or know it.


When we moved here we started composting right from the start. Our three horses contribute big time to our composting effort. We have three piles of manure in our composting pile. One is the pile we add to this year as we clean our barn.....a daily chore with three horses so we get about 1-2 wheelbarrow loads every morning. The next pile is the one that we added to last year and is sitting, composting till next year. The third pile is the one we added to three years ago, and has composted, and is a rich, black compost. That pile is the one we add to our raised beds and anywhere else we need dirt. This compost is one of the most valuable products on our homestead as it is responsible for growing our garden and giving us huge, healthy vegetables and fruits.

Since I raise much of my own vegetables and fruits I can them for future meals. It is great in the winter to open a jar of green beans that has that fresh taste. I also can elderberry juice that grows wild around us and use that for medicinal purposes as well. The jars are used over and over. I have tried over the years to cut down on the amount of cans and plastic containers I have to take to my land fill for recycling. I hate foods being contained in plastic as it is. My goal is to not have any plastic in my kitchen at all. It is such nasty stuff anyway!

I have purchased cloth bags for the grocery store and keep trying to eliminate the plastic bags from the stores. They remind me of clothes hangers and junk mail papers where they just keep multiplying if I don't keep an eye on it. I like to shop locally at farmers' markets and buy from some of my homesteading friends things that I don't grow myself.

My friend, Jamie  has always looked at the packaging in a store to decide if she wants to purchase something or not. It can be the deciding factor, even if it is something she truly needs....................if it has too much packaging and especially plastic, she will forgo it for something else or not buy it at all.

Since I have my own home based business selling guitar strings on my website I have done what I can to eliminate using too much paper and printing ink. I do include an invoice with the strings now. I have stated that on my site so the customers will expect it not having an invoice. They have to come back to the site and check their account. Another thing I do is send my used ink cartridges back to Lexmark as part of their Rewards program. When you are signed up for that they give you a discount when you purchase ink cartridges for your printer. They even send you postage paid envelopes to send the cartridges back to them. I like it.

We do not waste much around here. Be it water, electric or food. I don't feel composting and recycling is that difficult to do it you organize to make it easy to do. Make it routine and it will be your habit.....for life.

Low Carb Frugal Shopping 2009

Let's face it.......buying food in 2009 is very expensive! Switching to low carb eating has changed the kind of food I purchase. I had plenty of food stored in my pantry and now my poor husband ends up eating it! Potatoes, beets, carrots, dried beans, rice, pasta, cornmeal, bread flours, etc. Look at the kind of food I was eating! All very high carbs! It's no wonder I felt so bad. Now I am changing the way I buy and what I can store. I would like to see my husband switched over to this Low Carb plan too. He could just start on the maintaining program. He is a willing subject as he thinks the other way of eating is not healthy.

I have always grown lots of salad vegetables. Especially greens and different varieties of lettuce. They are very easy to grow and can be started early directly in the ground as soon as your frost date is reached. I have two planters that are like sinks.....one is a double sink that is used in milk houses for washing the milking equipment. It is above my waist so I do not have to bend down or squat to pick. I have another one that is a double galvanized sink that is what people used for washing clothes and they would attach a wringer to it. Both of these I use for growing my salad greens. Just fill it up with seeds. They grow close but I like it that way. I can pick them every day through out the summer and some of the fall. You can plant in any container you find. I get my compost from my manure pile. With three horses you get alot of manure! Our horses do not take any kind of drugs or medications so it clean compost.

I have raised beds all over the place. I fill them with tomatoes, green beans, spinach, swiss chard, green peppers, hot peppers,onions, zucchini, yellow summer squash, pumpkins and winter squash. Some of them will not be ready in the summer......more like late summer or early fall. So what I do is to go to my local farmer's markets and buy there and get enough to eat fresh and to can for the winter. If you can find heirloom seeds you can save the seeds from your plants and not have to purchase them next year. I have one cherry tomato that I bought about 4 or 5 years ago that grows wild all around us. It is wonderful! Then when my plants come up I have more to can or store (I have an old fashioned root cellar and can store fresh vegetables and fruits down there as well as some home made cheese).

I have two raised stone beds that I planted strawberry plants in last year. I am waiting to see if they come up this year like they are supposed to. They kind of took over the beds and I wasn't sure if they would survive. Last year I also planted a huge garlic bed with some awesome garlic I got from my friend. One other plant I started last year was my Rhubarb and I am looking forward to seeing how that comes up. I am hoping to add berry bushes. I already have wild blueberries, elderberries, raspberries and strawberries, but would like to add the domestic kind. The wild ones are good, but so tiny. Asparagus beds is something I need to add as well.

I love the idea of growing most of our food. This year I would also like to put in some Stevia plants. My friend had it growing in her garden last year and that was the first time I tried it. So I could see drying alot of that. I have always grown herbs and will just throw a handful of different ones in our salads. I dry them for the winter and use them mostly in cooking but also make teas or infusions with some.

All I would have to do then is to order fresh meats from local farmers who offer it for sale. Anything you want that you don't grow or need more of, you can buy at the local farmer's markets or farms. Sometimes you can get good deals on it if you buy it in bulk. Put "Local Harvest" in Google and you will find a search engine that will give you a list of local farms and markets and CSA's right near where you live.

All of this food is less expensive than what you purchase in a grocery store......and much better quality. I am making a plan for purchasing the meat as I do not own a freezer or a refrigerator. So I have to bring it home and can it immediately. According to NY state law I believe the meat has to be flash frozen by the processor anyway, so I have time to let it thaw out a bit before I cook it for the canning process. Canning meat is not as hard as many people think it is. I really like it as it flavors up real good in the jar and it lasts for years (if it makes it that long!). Remember when you do this yourself.......you know what is in it!

katlupe