| $300.00
Yard Waste Station |
| Electric
Chipper Shredder |
|
$150.00 |
| Wheel Barrow |
|
$30.00 |
| 2 Round
Plastic 20 Gallon Trash Cans |
|
15.00 |
| Frame for
mulch turner |
|
$20.00 |
| Wheels for
mulch turner |
|
$10.00 |
| Discarded 7
Gal. Plastic Buckets |
|
$0.00 |
| Pooper Scooper
and Small Rake |
|
$20.00 |
| |
| Optional
"Chicken Mesh" screen frame |
|
?????? |
| Optional paper
shredder |
|
$25.00 |
| Optional Emax
yard blower vac. |
|
$40.00 |
|
| |
| The Bucket: |
| The bucket is for
holding and moving dog messes and organic debris
from the yard. Drill a small (1/4 inch or so)
hole in the bottom of the 7 gal. bucket. This
lets any water run out instead of making a stinky
mess. |
| |
| Once a day or every
other day you'll walk the yard and use the pooper
scooper to gather up dog droppings, small clumps
of grass clippings, twigs, leaves, dead birds or
rodents, etc. A little yard dirt here won't hurt
either. Weeds, plants, divets or small clumps of
sod/soil are okay. |
| |
| You won't need to dump
the bucket everyday unless it's full. You can
dump your used coffee grounds and filters on top
of the "dirt". Actually, you can also
dump egg shells in there, too. Just try to make
the coffee grounds the last thing on top each day
as the coffee helps keep the odors down. You can
use a lid on this bucket but it's not really
necessary. |
| |
| The Compost Tumbler: |
| Now assemble a frame
tall enough to run your wheel barrow under and
about 1.5 times as long as your trash cans are
tall. This frame needs to be out of the way and
away from the house in full sunlight all day for
optimum use. |
| |
| Set one trash can on
the floor and the second can inverted and on top
of the first. Screw the open ends together with a
handful of sheet metal screws. |
| |
| Cut the ends off both
cans about two inches from the bottom. Now take
one bottom and flip it, Add a handle (rope handle
or purchase a handle) if you want, then push it
back into the can and use a half dozen or so
sheet metal screws to fasten it back in. |
| |
| Mount the four wheels
so the bottom of the can with the end in it and
the rim of the second can set between them where
the bottom can is level on its lower side and the
open top can angles upwards somewhat. Park the
wheel barrow under the capped end where the
barrow can catch anything falling out when you
remove the end. Put your optional screen over the
wheel barrow. |
| |
| Park the electric
Chipper/Shredder close to the open end of the
tumbler hopper. |
| |
| To Use: |
| |
| Gather up (rake up)
any grass clippings and leaves and dump them into
the hopper until it's about a 1/4 full. Give the
hopper one turn. Dump in a scoop of yard or
garden dirt and give it another turn. If your
"night soil" bucket is full dump that
in and give it another turn. |
| |
| You can add four or
five fist sized rocks also. The rougher - the
better. These help break up any clumbs and the
roughness crushes little dents and breaks in the
larger material causing them to slowly break up
as the unit is turned once each day. |
| |
| Now when ever you find
some sticks or twigs of bush trimmings run them
through the chipper/shredder and add that to the
hopper. Give it another turn. You can wait until
the shredder's catch bag is full before dumping
it if you want. |
| |
| You'll need some
moisture but you don't want this wet. A small
coffee can fulI everyday or so should do it. |
| |
| If it doesn't seem to
start "working" right away, add another
shovel full of yard or garden dirt. Worms are
okay. Turn the drum once for each bucket or scoop
of debris you put in and once each day. |
| |
| If you have a paper
shredder you may empty it's contents into the
hopper drum also. Paper is cellulose. Cellulose
will break down but you don't want a whole lot at
one time. Give it a turn. |
| |
| How It Works: |
| |
| Sunlight heats the two
can drum each day. The starting mix of dog
droppings, used cat litter, grass clippings,
leaves, shredded twigs, sticks and limbs, yard
dirt, etc. begins breaking down due to microbial
action. The broken down organic matter moves
slowly toward the bottom as more material is
added at the top. |
| |
| About six weeks after
starting this system you can remove the bottom
cover and allow the broken down mulch to roll out
the bottom as you turn the drum. If you use a
screen to sift the composted mulch just
reintroduce the unsifted debris back into the the
top as you continue to remove more material from
the bottom. As long as the material seems dark
and composted well, keep removing material. |
| |
| Once you're satisfied
you've removed most of the good compost close the
bottom again and age the removed compost another
week or two or use it immediately around trees
and shrubs or sifted over the yard. Well aged
compost is great for the garden. If you find any
rough rocks in the removed material just
reintroduce them at the top again. Smoth stones
won't help much. |
| |
| If you add too many
grass clippings or the weather turns cool the
system will slow down. Just give it more time and
keep turning it once a day. |
| |
| |
| Other Options: |
| |
| You can add manure tea
to the mix instead of just adding water. Manure
tea is a mix of dried manure steeped into water
for a day or so then poured or dripped into the
mix. |
| |
| If you introduce a lot
of earthworms into the mix you can add some
corrogated cardboard from time to time. The worms
love the glue that binds the corrogations
together. Just hand shred this stuff up and don't
add more than a small bucket full once a month or
so. |
| |
| You can further age
the finished compost in another covered trash can
or even a second compost tumbler if you want. |
| |
| Think about it! Bill
|
| |
 |
| |
Beverage Mountain Homemade
Beverage Info |
| |
| www.JoeBageant.com |
| |
| www.StevePavlina.com |
| |
| www.PaulGraham.com |
| |
www.LittleCandies.com |
