My Birthday Present: 3 Bin Compost System!

My birthday went by recently and I got a little bit of money so I decided to create myself a 3-bin compost system, "borrowed" from Jack Spirko at The Survival Podcast.

I already have a nice compost bin that my wife bought me a while back but the problem is with just one bin our compost is never fully complete because we're always adding new stuff too it.  I've got some really nice looking compost but mixed in are chunks of stuff that haven't broken down yet.

So with a 3 bin system, the idea is to begin in bin #1 and a month or so later dump it in #2. New stuff goes in bin #1. Later dump #2 in bin #3 and so on. This way you're turning over your compost and not mixing new with already composted stuff.  We've already got "bin 3" so I only had to make two of these.

Also, the thing I really liked about Jack's system was that it used a tube through the pile to circulate air through it. The idea is that the compost will warm inside the bin as it breaks down which then warms the air.  Warm air rises so it will go out the top of the tube and new cool air is sucked up through the bottom of the tube.  I picked a black garbage can as my bin because the colour will also help keep the insides warm.

This 3-bin system is pretty easy to make and I did two under an hour; here are the steps:

1) Materials: dark coloured garbage plastic garbage cans, PVC pipes, right angle PVC connectors

2) I used a rotary tool (Dremel) to cut a hole the size of the PVC pipe in the bottom front

3) Cut a hole through the top of the lid.  Space pipes and mark off where to cut.  They should stick out a couple of inches.

4) Cut your pipes to length, attach together (I used an epoxy on mine)

5) Drill holes in pipe about an inch apart and on all 4 "sides".  Don't put holes on bottle bend to allow for "suction".  Now just fit it all together and you're done.  

  

Last Harvest of the Year

Here's the last harvest of the year that I picked this morning. I'll be cleaning up my garden for the winter over the next week or so.

So kinda from left to right I've got red onions, carrots, ground cherries, a small cucumber, a jalapeno pepper, cherry tomatoes, broccoli and pole beans.

I was really surprised to find a jalapeno and by how much the garden is still producing this late into October.  In fact this really won't be my last harvest since there's probably a dozen cherry tomatoes that will be ripe soon, a few dozen ground cherries and a few more tomatoes that are almost ripe.

I'm really pleased with the ground cherries.  My youngest daughter loves them and often before we'd go on a car ride I'd grab a dozen or so of them to eat on the way.  I might add another plant for a little bit more next year.

Cucumbers did pretty well and both my daughters love them so I think I'll double the amount next year.

Tomatoes did ok and I think I'll add a plant or two next year.

My red and green peppers did not do well at all for some reason.  I planted some on all 3 sides of the garden and they did poorly on all locations.  I only got 3 peppers all year; maybe it was just a bad year for those?  I'll try again next year but if I get similar results I'll give up on those to make room for things that do better.

For some reason though the jalapeno peppers did pretty well and I collected about a dozen or so of those despite expecting to get poor results. 

My carrots did not do well at all.  I think I'll have to put more effort into them next year with better spacing and thinning.   Though they were located in my west side garden which gets the least sun because of the hedges between us and the neighbour.  I think next year I'll try to grow things that I can trellis upwards so they can get more sun: tomatoes, cucumbers, beans.  This will also create more space to grow things.

I'm planning on putting a keyhole gardenbed in my front yard for next year.  Our front yard really isn't used for anything so might as well make it productive.  Secondly, that would be less lawn that needs mowing.  Maybe the carrots would do better there?

First Batch of Ground Cherries

Here's my first batch of ground cherries.  I'm pretty impressed by how well my little bushes have grown and I think I'll plant more next year.

The berries are about the size of a marble and taste a bit like pineapple.  My wife and youngest daughter loved them!

Green Lawn: Now Mother-In-Law Approved!

I finally got around to mowing my lawn today.  I normally hold off mowing when there hasn't been much rain lately and this summer has been horrible for that so far.  We've had such little rain that it's been almost 3 weeks since I last mowed.

As I was mowing my mother-in-law stopped by and complimented me on how good my lawn looks.  I almost fell over since most people seem to think my "green lawn care" strategy just means lots of weeds and grass that always looks too long.

So here's what my lawn looked like tonight.  As before, our property ends where the hedges start (the second, taller bush).

Here's what my neighbour's lawn across the road looks like:

It appears that both my neighbours are the type that believe in mowing their lawn once a week whether it needs it or not, no matter what, even if it hasn't rained in over a month.

Garden Update

I didn't have enough time to plant everything I wanted this spring, but I'm pleased with the results I'm getting so far.  My strategy was to try to mix things up a bit to be more permacultury and to so what grows best where in the different levels of sun and shade.

I also wanted to get one of those big boxes of wildflower seeds and sprinkle those in between the veggies to give it more eye appeal and permaculture street-cred but I couldn't find any in stock this year.

So first up is a pic of what's supposed to be my porch herb garden.  I've got some rosemary in the foreground that's hanging on for life (I started it indoors) but nothing else is really doing well.  Dill and some lettuce are slowly coming along and some chives are popping up but that's about it.  I think there must be too much shade contrary to my original opinion.  Also what doesn't help is that these are probably the ones that I water the least since the hose is so far away on the other side.... Ya.  Basically when ever I talk about permaculture or green lawn care I'm actually talking about lazy gardening.  I'd like to install a drip system attached to the gutters but until then I think my porch will be an herb graveyard.

Next up is my side entrance garden which has had really surprising results.  The tomatoes are doing the best here and the onions are doing well too.  I think it's the early morning sun it gets.  Based on the results of those I thought the pole beans would go like mad, but they haven't taken off at all.  In fact the pole beans are going wild in the back yard planters where I thought they'd do horribly.  The broccoli is really getting bushy but no heads yet and the pepper is doing fine with one pepper on it so far.

To the left is my front yard garden, and the shadow of myself and the apple tree.  Once you get a front yard garden you've crossed a line.  The results here were surprising too.  I thought this would have the best results since it gets the most sun but the tomatoes seem to have done the worst here so far.  Onions are ok and the peppers are coming along but not as well as the front entrance.   This is the only place I planted jalapenos though since I thought it was the only place with enough sun for them which seems to have worked out well.  I've got at least 8 jalapeno peppers which are around 2 inches long each.  Along the wall I planted sunflowers, which did well last year to at least give some decoration.

 Last up is the side garden that I put in last spring and things aren't doing too well here.  The hedges across from them have grown really quickly and I don't think there's enough sun here now.  The hose across the wall if you're wondering is the overflow for my rain barrel to drain into a second.  I'll have to find some stuff that grows well in shady areas, though the cucumbers seem to be doing ok here.

One other neat little thing that seems to be doing well here is a ground cherry plant.  These things have a nice visual aspect with their "paper lanterns" but inside them are orange coloured berries that I find taste a bit like pineapple.  This particular one is located in an area that gets more sun than the rest of this section so that may be helping, but if it continues to do well, I may plant more on this side and see how they do.  I'd also like to plant some raspberry bushes on each side of the basement windows so the thorns will discourage people and animals to go near.

So far, this season is hit and miss, but I'm learning a lot which will help me in seasons to come.  I could be doing this by the "textbook" but I'm having fun experimenting.

Front Lawn Update

So this year I'm really trying to go natural with my lawn care.  No watering, mowing high, no weed n' feed etc..

So far the results are pretty good.  We haven't had much rain in the last month or so and as you can tell by this picture, there's a noticeable difference between my neighbour's and my lawn which ends at the hedges.  Basically right around where the brown stuff starts.

In that picture you can also see a bit of the apple tree that I've planted.  I picked a cortland apple tree because it supposedly has high and early yeilds and does it ever!

After a week we had at least a dozen apple-buds already.  I wasn't expecting any apples on this thing for at least a couple of years!  Unfortunately only 3 of those buds have survived this long and are now golfball-sized apples.  At least 3 apples are better than none and it's a great way for my daughter to learn about where her food comes from.  From her room she can see the tree and I asked her to watch out for people stealing our apples!

Since planting, I extended my rain-barrel/soaker hose system to the tree so it will always have water and added mulch.  I'd like to get a bunch of rocks at the base of the tree to act as a heat trap to increase the warmth of the soil and extend the growing season a bit.

Mason Jars: Great Invention or Greatest Invention?

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I'm seriously falling in love with mason jars.  They're just so useful!

It seems like every week I think of new ways to use them.  I'd even use them to drink out of but my wife would kill me.

One thing that's been bothering me for a while are the amount of ziploc-type bags we go through.  I mean, it seems kinda wasteful doesn't it?  I know some people who wash these bags and re-use them but my wife again isn't too keen on that either.

 Plus the thought of plastics degrading overtime in contact with food...I know, I'm probably just paranoid.

So a few weeks back I'm at the grocery store and I decided to buy some of those mini-hamburger patties (sometimes called "sliders") that my girls love.  I did them on the BBQ and after we ate there were a bunch of them leftover.

Since all our containers weren't cleaned yet I was about to use a ziploc bag when I thought, "I bet those mini-burgers will fit well in mason jars...".  And they did!

Then I decided that since they were in the jars, I might as well vacuum seal those suckers, freeze them, and then they'll last a long time (the vacuum sealer instructions says up to a year if you trust that).

So that's what I did.  I also froze the little buns too so now I can pull out a few burgers for them for a quick meal for my girls.

I also rehydrate a little bit of dehydrated onions for them which they love.  The dehydrated onions turn out like those little onion pieces that McDonalds puts on their burgers; the dehydration increases the sweetness.

This got me thinking of what else I could put in mason jars and freeze but so far the only other thing I've done is ground beef.

I try to buy the bulk packs of ground beef and split it up into smaller portions in ziploc bags.  Sometimes I'll cook it up before freezing it for quick meals later but thawing the beef in the microwave while in the ziploc was always kinda gross.

So what I'm doing now is cooking the beef when I get home (throw in some dehydrated onions for flavour) and portion it out into mason jars that are then vacuum sealed.

This makes it super-easy to make pate chinois (French-Canadian style sheppard's pie).

All I do is microwave the ground beef in the mason jar, boil some dehydrated corn, and make some mashed potatoes, which is the hardest part.  I could use dehydrated potato flakes but it's not as good.  Maybe someday I'll have discovered the secret to making your own dehydrated mashed potatoes.

We've also started going to a Bulk Barn that opened up in my home town and instead of leaving everything lying around in the plastic baggies the store supplies, I've been putting the stuff in mason jars and vacuum sealing them if we're not going to use them right away.

With all these uses I'm finding for mason jars I think I'm going to buy one of the dedicated mason jar vacuum sealer attachments.  The canister work-around is great but the largest mason jars, which I didn't think I'd use often, wont fit inside.









I think I'm also going to pick up some of those plastic lids for the jars instead of just using the metal ring and lid.  Once the vacuum seal is broke, what's the point of fooling around with the ring and lid right?  Might as well keep them in good condition to be re-used.  I need to conserve my supplies 'cause once you get started with mason jars you can't stop! At least that seems to be the my case.