I'm telling you officer, that really is my compost pile!

So many things in life start with the best of intentions. I had always looked forward to composting, yes I know, I shoot for the moon. What I have now looks like a dead body in my backyard but it's not how it all started.

For years it frustrated me that I would throw away food scraps; onion peels, strawberries that have gone bad, apple cores, etc. In fact this is why I started to make pumpkin bread. I was upset that I would throw away the pumpkin after I would roast the seeds. I love roasted pumpkin seeds, pulled out with the stringy stuff on them, put on a sheet pan with salt and roasted slowly at a low temperature until they are dried out and taste like heaven. Addictive too. So to make pumpkin bread I found a recipe in Fanny Farmer, my cooking bible, and went to task. Anyway, I was ready to start composting!

When we bought our house I was all ready to get a compost pile started. Two things held me back, first I am nervous before I do anything for the first time. After I try it I get confidence and quickly become an expert. But that first step is the hardest. The second is that my wife was in the hospital for the first month that we lived in our new house. The compost pile was put on hold.

I looked at brochures, glanced at some books and talked to people who already compost. I realized that I am making more out of my fear of trying composting and should buckle down and do it. What's the worst that could happen, satellites falling out of orbit from the sky? Actually that would be pretty cool. So I put together a compost bin.

To save the poor bin's feelings I don't have any photos of it. It was a tomato cage that I wrapped with chicken wire. Took me two evenings to finish it, but I was excited and ready. I placed it out in the backyard and started to fill it up. I realized that in a matter of days it was getting rather full of vegetable scraps and raked leaves and that I was not able to turn it easily or at all. And I saw that I had no more room in there so it was scrapped for compost bin 2.0.

The new bin started out great as you can see. I got plywood and glued the boards together to form this box. I poured out what was inside the old cage and started to add to the pile and turn it. Then I started to tear up my backyard to start my garden. Where can I put this turf and soil, why lets put it into the compost bin. The bin grew and grew and grew (sounds like a fairy tale) and then exploded.

I filled the bin too much and the walls fell over and my crime scene was now there. Also the soil is clay and my 2 to 1 ratio of brown mixture to green is so far off its funny. But I keep adding to it and my guess is that sometime by next year I'll have the proper ratio. I keep it watered and put a sheet over the top to keep as much moisture in the pile. When I did move the grass I dug up over to the pile I brought a bunch of worms. I have seen some of them in the pile, some actually are really large, almost radioactive large, but nothing to fear, yet.

I'm proud of my compost pile, I know it will work. In fact I have seen some of the decomposition happening in the pile, things I put in there months ago are making the soil softer and mulchier, if that is a word. The important thing is that I am enjoying myself and even if I do it wrong, then I'll learn. It can't be that hard, people do it everyday. But I feel good knowing that I am not adding to the landfills. Sure it may only be a few pound of waste a month, but every little bit counts. And of course if I do get it to work I'll have nice soil to use for next years garden.

Now if I can only convince the police...........