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!


Monday 16 July 2012

HotBin trial - the first week.

 Ok, so I have had the HotBin in situ for just over a week. I took these photos on Day 9, first thing in the morning.

So far, I have been very impressed. The HotBin has "eaten" 4 refills of mainly green waste (weed, potato haulms, grass) this week. Each time the level had dropped down to about a quarter full - (about 50 L)  I refilled the HotBin to the top.  Which means the HotBin has consumed approx. about 600 ish L of waste, by volume, reducing this material down to coarse mulch ish consistency, now sitting in the bottom of the HotBin. In a week.

Even if I removed this partially composted coarse material from the bottom of the HotBin and left it to continue to compost down in the open (or in another bin!) , the HotBin would still have dealt with a staggering amount of material in a week compared with a conventional composting bin - so on throughput of material alone I am impressed.


Whenever I open the lid, there is steam and heat!




As long as there is a fresh charge of waste to work on The HotBin has kept at a steady 55 - 60 C  - it usually takes 3 days for the temperature to drop to less than 40 C - by which time the HotBin needs  a refill.





The Dalek, by comparison, has about 100 L of waste remaining in the bottom of the composter from the original 330 L of material I put into it a week ago. The temperature has dropped from a hot 65 C,  4 days ago, to a steady 30 C. This is really good work for a Dalek composter - I am impressed!  But it is time for me to refill the Dalek, so it can heat up and get going again.



I am going to transfer the partially composted material from the Hotbin into another, empty, Dalek composter - so I can continue to see exactly how much material the HotBin can eat in a week.

I am enjoying this! But then, I am Compostwoman...

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