3 - 2 - 1 ...Compost!

I've started - and actually finished - making the structure to house our compost pile. It's some really high tech stuff. The first step of the project, as with any new house project, was a trip to The Home Depot. Boy-oh-boy, I love Home Depot. I think I make, on average, one trip per day and probably more like two trips per day on weekends.

Here's my shopping-list:

1. Rubber mallet
2. 4 wooden stakes (I think they are four or five feet long)
3. 25 ft of chicken wire

I think all the supplies ran a bit under $40, but I won't have to ever buy a rubber mallet again!

Here's the required tools that I already owned:

1. Electric Nailer/Staple Gun
2. Hammer
3. 4 foot level

Amanda helped me pick out a nice backyard spot to build the pile.

"a nice backyard spot"

I figured the project would take me less than 30 minutes, so I dove right in!

Dang...that is a sweet Narwhal shirt!

The first step was to measure out and mark where I wanted the posts.  Then I drove the posts into the ground.  Then I stapled the chicken wire to the outside of the posts.

As I suspected, the building was a piece of cake.  Mostly.  The ground is quite rocky and clayish and I think I broke a part of the fourth post...as you can see (front left), it's a bit crooked.  I tried using my level when driving the posts, but this one hit a rock, went sideways, and was never the same.

Day 1

Done and done!  Completed compost pile structure.  Now it's time to make some sweet dirt for our gardens next year.

Day 1.  Pile of leaves on the outside to the left of the pile...one apple.

By day 14, I'd bought myself a Leaf Blower and got to work on the yard.

Day 14

Now it's day 26ish and it's too dark for me to get a current photo.  I've done two runs through the lawn with my blower, mulching the leaves as I go, but with our latest rains, the previously full compost pile has been battered down to being merely half full.  That's fine with me as the trees are finally letting go of their last leaves.  I should be able to spend a few hours this weekend clearing the rest of the front, side and back yards completing my leaf duties for the year and again filling the compost pile.