Our Compost Pile

How we made our compost pile Saturday morning.  

First we hit the top field and gathered corn stalks.

Next, we cleaned out the chicken house and laying boxes.  We gathered all the straw (poo included) and lined the house, boxes and muddy ground with all new straw.

 The chickens immediately started scratching around.  I don't know if they liked it or not but surely so, their little feet were tromping in mud.

Now they are kicking and scratching around.  I threw a little sunflower seeds down to give them something to look for.  They liked that.

 This is how much chicken poo I gathered from the top of their house where some of them roost.  Gross I know but oddly enough I was tickled to death! 

This shows the cornstalks on the bottom then a layer of chicken poo straw and one chore down.

 Since we currently have no pigs I thought it would be a great idea to get the bedding straw from the inside of their house which also has poo in it.  Still stinky in fact.  I had to put a bandanna over my face.  But it'll make for great fertilizer.

 Piggie house straw layer.  I didn't take it all because a couple of field mice ran out so I thought I'd leave them some warmth.

This is our final product.  Oh.. I didn't make a picture of dirt clods I dug out of the garden.  I put the layer of chicken poo on top and then the garden dirt and kitchen veggie scraps.  I gave it a good soaking with the hose and now she's off to rot on her own.  I plan on turning it once a week and when I add scraps from our kitchen.  It is so nice to have somewhere to put my scraps now that the pigs are gone.  I cannot wait to experiment with our compost this summer as garden fertilizer. 

These were blooming in the woods.  Don't they know it's January?!?!  With this unseasonable weather we've been having I reckon not!  I brought these in the house.  I couldn't resist.

I also couldn't resist using the clothesline despite how windy it was.  I didn't have to chase anything down so it turned out alright. 

I had an extremely productive Saturday.  The compost pile was just the morning chore.  And it was a fun one.. stinky but fun!