hi guys i have not posted on here in ages (sorry)
this year i have really got into composting and wormeries i would guess i have composted approx 6-8 ton of material all hot composted .
i have gotten all of my material for free from different sources i get fresh horse manure from a livery owner delivered to my plot free its all ( amino thingy bob) free as he is to tight to spray his fields with anything and all his hay and straw is like wise.
i have loads of friends who keep pigeons and i get all there waste my other friends breed rabbits and Guinea pigs i get all there bedding and waste i have a veg shop that delivers all its old or rotting veg waste to me and even have the local council delivering me any grass or soft hedge clippings to me by the pickup load
oh yes and i also keep 50 odd chickens so i have all the manure and bedding from them i have also a 80 foot row of comfrey i harvest about four or five times a year
this as i say is hot composted and turned at three week intervals i have a four bay composting system bin 1 is where i start off it gets mixed and stacked in there then 3 weeks later it all gets turned into bay 2 to add it air and stir and i keep a 1/4 back to start the next batch in bay one
it gets incredibly hot in no time at all 3 weeks later it gets turned and stired to bay 3 and so on until it reaches bay four the heat has usually gone from it then this is by no means finished compost but is is really good worm food
i have seven four foot by four foot worm bins i have made the cooled compost is added to the bins on a daily basis one bin per day I'm going to increase the number of worm bins over the winter to 21 bins if the worm population permits
these bins are pretty crude design so i have been building a rotary compost sieve to harvest both the worms and the finished product the finished compost / castings are then bagged up and stored for future use and the remaing material is added to the worm bins and started over again
i intend when funds allow to change my wormery system in to what is called flow through systems this is where you add to the top and remove through the bottom this results in less disturbance to the worm population and better quality worm casting and compost i also intend to at least double my composting next year i will try to keep you informed of my progress ( if i find time ) all the best and kindest regards Mal
