Our eclectic compost bin, made with mostly spare pieces and parts.
Our old compost bin. Being stationary, it has been very difficult to 'turn' the pile with any consistency, and we were never able to get much compost from it. After looking at commercial compost bins suggested to us (shout-out to Jeff McDowell!), we found that none of the good well-insulated ones would ship to Alaska. So I decided to look at building one with some natural insulation. With all our project funds for the year depleted from building the raised beds and greenhouse earlier this Summer, this project would have to be nearly 'cost-neutral' (i.e. cheap).
We had one more spruce tree that had been killed by spruce beetles last year, and it needed to come down. Spruce logs make good insulators from the cold. So, I figured why not turn this last dead spruce into a log compost bin? I didn't want it to fit too tightly together (the compost needs some air circulation) so I left the bark on which creates some small gaps between logs, which I can easily expand if more circulation is needed later. Landon got his first lesson with a chainsaw, as we cut down the spruce, and we moved the heavy logs up to the site on our shoulders.
Simple wood latches added on the front, in case I needed to add a front wall. First layer of straw added. A two-bay bin, so I have one active pile and a place to put it when I turn it. We started with straw, then layered it with greens and browns as the pile grew.
~3 feet high was the goal. With kitchen scraps, grass clippings, dried leaves, straw, coffee grounds and a little compost from our other bin, we got it started.
The first 24 hrs, it didn't heat up much, so I added a tarp. Next 24 hrs it got to ~115 degrees, but I was really looking for ~140-150 degrees within the first 48 hrs. So I decided I needed to help it heat up by enclosing it in the front and on top.
Front is on, using some weathered plywood.
The lid required some work back in the garage.
Landon helped me carry the finished lid up to the site.
Lid installed, here using extra board to prop it open.
Hinged on the back, fastened straight to the log.
Locks on the sides to keep it on during wind storms.
I used different locks on each side (because that's what was handy at the time).
Held together by scrap pieces of wood and spare fasteners.
All finished up, with one pile starting to 'cook' inside. We'll let you know if it works. I'm hoping the clear panels on top will let in enough heat, and the log sides will insulate it enough to (maybe) keep the composting action going during parts of Winter, but I'll be happy if we can keep it going as a hot compost pile from Spring to Fall.
The raised beds are doing well. Broccoli, beats, cabbage, carrots, peas, beans, onions, lettuce, celery and Brussels sprouts. Most of these were from our indoor starts.
No-dig beds can be seen in the background, with a rudimentary moose fence put up to keep the big hairy critters out.
New board cut to fit as a table-top on the fire pit.
The greenhouse is filling up.
The pumpkin patch.
In the no-dig beds we're growing dill, cantaloupe, spinach, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, kale, and an asparagus bed at the far end of this picture (on the end where the compost bin is barely visible). Most of it has germinated, but we still have some asparagus to add to the bed this week.
We're trying grapes on lattices near the pumpkin patch. Not sure how that will work in Alaska, but we'll cover them up over the Winter to help them survive.
We lined a gravel walkway with blueberries, between the greenhouse and wildflower patch. The wildflowers we seeded are coming up, should look nice in a few weeks.
Our decision to plant the potatoes early has so far worked out. I hilled them about three weeks ago after they reached a few inches tall, and decided to cover the plants completely. Here, they are last week bursting back out after being hilled, as if I insulted them by covering them up.
Today, they have grown quite a bit and are already needing hilled a second time.
Landon's apple tree is blooming again this year, but with no other apple tree to pollinate with, we'll likely not get any full-sized apples yet.
Grayson's apple tree is starting to put on some growth. It was a casualty of a lawnmower incident at one point, so it has recovered decently from that. This Winter we'll cover it to protect it from the moose and allow it to get some more growth. We need it to bloom to get some apples between the two. Both of these trees are about 10 years old. We're considering adding some apple trees and cherry trees to the new side yard we put in a couple years ago, and turn that area into an orchard.
The rhubarb Pappy planted ~10 years ago is truly State Fair quality. We can't possible eat enough rhubarb to keep up with it, so of course we planted another one on the other side of the window(?).
Another project 'on the cheap'. Landon asked for a pull-up bar. These two trees provided the posts, and I donated the bar, and even added some rebar as a sit-up foot-hold on the bottom.
Our rule is that every time you walk past the pull-up bar, you must stop and do two pull-ups.
Grayson, meantime, put in a good 10 hours of work as our manual lawn aerator, two holes at a time.
Grayson also put in some time on our make-shift range, getting prepared for his hunter education course, which required him to pass a shooting proficiency test.
He passed, and we've made plans for his first caribou hunt in August.
Our 25th wedding anniversary was last week, and we went out (mask-less, gasp!) to eat at Settlers Bay. We enjoyed the food and the scenery (of each other!). Other than going to work, occasionally to a store when required, and Jolene's hikes, we hadn't ventured out at all since the hunker-down started.
Dino's health has improved a little. He turned 11 earlier this year, and has some health issues, including losing his sight, but overall he is still enjoying life, and we're enjoying having him around.
Our exterior earthquake repairs are now complete. The siding repair and paint job went well. We still have some indoor repairs to do, but we are taking our time.
Front porch got repaired and re-stained to match the paint job.
A dragonfly photo-bombing my thunderstorm picture.
A word on moose deterrents. I've taken the low-energy approach and put up some simple barriers. Here is one at the corner of the property to divert any moose walking our way along the bluff trail. We cleared another trail along the property line, so when the moose reach the barrier, they'll see another alternate trail to take, which diverts them from the garden. My hope is that the moose are lazy enough for it to work, otherwise we'll have to put up a hot-wire fence around the garden (which I don't want to do).
The below video was the first test of this barrier (shown before we had installed the compost bin), and (at least this time) it worked. You can see the moose consider the small barrier and then say "oh, hey, another trail" which took him away from the garden. I suspect our luck will run out eventually and a moose may eat some of the garden at some point, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
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