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!


Thursday 10 January 2013

Looking back over this blog, after nearly 1000 posts

I have been feeling rather under the weather the last few days and have spent a fair bit of time sitting at the computer keyboard ( as it is in a room next to the bathroom...enough detail there I think!)

So of the things I have been doing is reading back over this blog and all the things I have posted about on here. As I am nearly at 1000 posts ( a bit of a landmark, there I feel)it felt like a good idea to see what I have been saying.

What a lot of words and photos! I am amazed at how much I have written, to be honest:-) I am also amazed at so many comments and especially followers, who have stayed with me over the last nearly 6 years I have been writing here.

I am aware that I used to post more about what we did in the garden and what the hens got up to etc, but I feel there comes a point in a long running blog, which follows the cycle of the seasons and which carries on year on year, that I start to repeat myself - so lots of stuff now just does not get mentioned.

One thing I did do for a while was the idea of Five good things - every day finding five good things about the day and posting about it. But I stopped, largely because last year to be honest I just didn't want to do that sort of post - indeed I had to try very hard to post at all, for many reasons, on many occasions. But looking back on my posts from 2010 and earlier, I can see finding five good things had a helpful purpose of making me see that life is not as gloomy as it sometimes feels. I actually have lots of blessing ( family, animals, love, food, a roof, etc) even when life is a bit of a struggle.

Something else I used to do, but seem to have dropped, is a monthly round up of what has happened. Again, I think that was helpful.

Also missing as stand alone posts are the Chickenailia posts - I do still post ( a lot!) about the hens, but often now the stuff about them is mixed in with the other stuff. So I think a monthly Chickenailia post would be a good idea, also.

Apart from those points, I really enjoyed reading back over my blog - looking at all the stuff we have done and remembering fun things. Some things I had forgotten we did and some things need doing again. I am so glad I started blogging!

And I think the trying to find good things in each day is something I will re instate - anything which makes life seem brighter has to help! Ditto the monthly review and Chickenailia posts even if I don't, this time,  list the eggs laid and the weight of each item harvested from the garden :-)

Thank you for reading, as always and if you have any observations or things you would like me to write about in future, please do comment!

4 comments:

  1. 1,000 blogs - that's a great achievement. I wish I had your self-discipline and determination!

    I enjoy your chicken and other animal blogs most, but also those about your seasonal celebrations (particularly since I'm in Australia) and your teaching woodland skills - passing on your skills to new generations.

    I've recommended your blog to several of my friends who keep chickens and vegetable gardens but don't know whether they have been more than occasional readers.

    The monthly review ideas is, I think, a good one. An opportunity to see the progress, rather than the ongoing slog.

    I hope you're feeling a lot better soon and look forward to readingthe next 1,000 blogs:-)

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  2. Thank you Annie - for the kind words and the reccomendations :-)

    I must admit the veg /composting, the animal, the seasonal rituals and the educational ones are the ones I seem to have put the most passion into - although I do enjoy writing craft posts as well.


    Basically I really enjoy writing, much like i really enjoy talking lol!

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  3. That's a good achievement, I bet you are chuffed. It's interesting to see how blogs evolve, I am sure I don't write about a lot of things I used to write about. I try and keep it fresh, which is sometimes quite difficult.

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  4. Well done on reaching a 1000 posts - I can understand what you say about repeating yourself it is hard to comeup with original stuff sometimes. I try to post once a week but I find it a struggle to always be inventive. Only just found your blog so I'll be going back over your archives to catch up.

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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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