Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Sunday, 28 September 2008

Sunday sounds and views

Some photos as I wandered around my garden this morning. The sun had just managed to burn off the mist which had wreathed the trees and the Ridge in swathes of white, I had a cup of tea and had just sorted out the hens. I was musing on the rapid passing of the days at the moment.... and I spotted a fabulous cobweb, I hope you can make it out in my photo!



Also some beautiful lichen which is growing on a dead shrub...sadly I am going to have to remove the shrub but there is lots more of this growing elsewhere in the garden!



Later on I took a shot of the Guelder Rose (Viburnum Opulis and opulent it is, too!) near the pool, with the afternoon sun making it glow!



There are a lot of berries on all of the trees this year, my Mum used to say that meant it would be a hard winter, I don't know if thats right really but at least it means that the birds and animals have food to stock up on before the winter comes.

Finally , this is what it sounds like most of the time at Compost Mansions, this was taken over an hour of this Sunday morning. I started recording because I could hear the Buzzards making a flap, and then got more and more engrossed.
Notice..no cars, tractors or ANYTHING other than Buzzards, Jackdaws, Magpies, Crows, Blackbirds, Robins and various other birds.

We are blessed, I know......

8 comments:

  1. Your photographs are wonderful and I can certainly see the cobweb. I seem to have an amazing amount of cobwebs and spiders in the garden this year and for some reason they seem to spin a web right across a pathway... when I am rushing off into the garden along the path I invariably forget and end up walking straight into the web. I am afraid I am no lover of spiders so then spend the next few minutes jumping up and down frantically trying to remove web and possible spider (yikes!!) from my person. I also feel pretty awful after I have blundered in my rush through the cobweb and destroyed the spiders hard work... but noththeless the next day that spiderweb will be up and running once more.. ready for me to blunder though it again!!!
    The video was beautiful I played it over a few times, so nice to have so much peace. I live out in the sticks... but alas we do now have a motorway about four fields away, and their is a constant droon of traffic to be heard. Some days the drooon is worse than others, it depends on the weather conditions. Also we have a busy B road two fields away from us... not so busy now the motorway has appeared. It has relieved us of the heavy lorrys that used to hurtle up and down the road. I also live near a car testing company and they work shifts so we have busy rush hours during the day and night. I noticed when I recently made a little film on my camera, on the play back you could hear the constant sound of traffic going up and down the road (it was rush hour at the time) But somehow we all seem to have gotten used to the traffic noises and we have acquired the ability to block it out and hear the birds instead.

    Adore your sweet hens... Ohhh and Goldie is lovely... ( I want one!!!!) When I used to go and stay with my brother in law in Scotland they kept hens and one of them was particulary friendly, she was called Meg and would allow them to pick her up and carry her around.. she often popped into the kitchen for a casual visit. She was so cute. She soon got to know us whilst we were staying their and used to greet us when we went into the garden. I used to love looking for the eggs that were laid in various places around the garden. Sadly they have all departed now and gone to hen heaven.
    Your little chicks are so gorgeous too.... Thanks for all the photographs, I love looking at them.

    Jane xxxx (sorry if this comment has gone on a bit... knew I could talk but his may be taking it a bit far!!ha! ha!!!)

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  2. Jane don't apologise! I LIKE people to talk to me!

    I am glad you like the photos and video...I couldn't actually believe how quiet it was...usually there is SOME noise, a mower or tractor ( we ARE surrounded by farms so its not suprising!)

    But no, just all the birds ( and cats, and hens...but you couldn't hear them!)

    Oh and it makes me happy when folk say they like what I post...

    Or even if they don't........comments feed my muse!

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  3. Wow that cobweb is huge! Great photos, what a lovely place to live, it looks so peaceful.

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  4. Hello TGS!

    Thank you for the compliment! I DO tend to keep my camera with me and take LOTS of photos...I like to look back at what I have done during the day/week, otherwise I forget ( old age....)

    It WAS a huge cobweb!...about 3 feet across! but the spider was rather small! The next photo is of one the same ( but NOT the actual spinner of the MEGA web.)

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  5. Hello Compostwoman! Thank-you for reading my blog, great minds think alike. I just figured out how to use the blog-roll thingy and added you to my list tonight and was pleasantly surprised to see my name on your site as well.
    As for this posting, do you use your high bush cranberries for canning? It makes great thanksgiving and Christmas cranberry sauce, everyone loves it!

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  6. Hi HDR ( I hope you don't mind the abbrieviation!

    Do you mean the Guelder Rose> If so, I didn't know they were good to eat! I know they are not exactly toxic but...

    I shall investigate!

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  7. Oh, you are so lucky. I grew up in rural herefordshire and miss it so much. We live in a small market town in Wales now and although it is lovely, I do miss the peace and quiet of the countryside. We hope to move back in a year or two though so I guess I just need to be patient!

    Great blog by the way - I find your composting posts really useful. We've had to seal our compost bin now (can't fit anything more in) and it just seems criminal to have to throw peelings and the like away. We are intending to build a proper composting system soon though so I'm sure I'll be referring to your blog a great deal over the next few weeks!

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  8. Hi there Kittyboo..Thank you for the compliments...I am glad you find my blog helpful!

    BUT don't throw away your peelings...just start a pile and when you get your self sorted with new compost bins you have a lot of ingredients ready made!

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Hello! Thank you for reading my blog and for commenting. I try to reply as quickly as I can and I really appreciate your interest in my life and doings here in The Compost Bin.

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