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!
Tuesday, 30 August 2016
Sunday, 28 August 2016
Civil engineering :)
Our trench arch septic tank soak away system developed a bit of a blockage in one of the arms. This is what takes the liquids from our sewerage system and drains it underground so it slowly perculates into the soil under the wood where it is rendered harmless and useful. The blockage wasn't serious, but when you have a JCB why not fix it asap?
Digging out the trench - very tight in amongst the trees and I acted as banksperson to Compostman driving the JCB ( I do drive it as well!)
Uncovering the trench under the protective slabs
Clearing the blockage and then putting it all back together
Probably would have cost us a few thousand pound to get this done AND they would have wanted to clear fell the trees to get to it. So good that we can sort stuff like this out for ourselves :)
Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Wales day 4
Gentle giants
We had a bouncy wet ride around the farm in this carriage :)
We then decided to go and try to find a stone circle we had visited the last time we were in this part of Wales. Despite driving rain and low cloud I had a look at the OS map and identified where I thought it might be
And we found it!
You can see how very very wet it was :(
At this point we were drenched despite waterproofs and boots so headed back to the hotel.
Unfortunately that evening Compostgirl developed a very upset tum and we had to go home the next day a day early. Shame, both because she was ill and because as the weather turned absolutely glorious for the rest of the week.
Sunday, 21 August 2016
Wales, Day 3
Today we went to Castell Henllys
Compostgirl decided to have a go at the sensory trail :)
Then needed to wash her feet! Fortunately there was a handy ( or should that read footy?) stream
Me, by the Sacred Spring
We made some crowns
Compostgirl by the offerings people leave at the Sacred Spring.
The top of the hill and the reconstructed Iron Age roundhouses.
It came on to rain so we sheltered inside one and had a lovely chat to another couple.
There is now an excellent visitor center at the site where we had a yummy lunch and bought some things from the shop.
Afterwards, it was really raining hard but we decided to carry on to Llangranog, to the beach.
My paternal family come from here and I spent many happy days on this beach as a small child.
Saturday, 20 August 2016
Wales Day 2
This was the evening meal we had in our hotel in Solva :) Was excellent :)
Sat morning, very stormy, Solva harbour
Very high tide!
We went to see a friend and then drove up the coast, stopping at St David's, before getting to our hotel for the next few days. Very nice room and very friendly people running the hotel :)
Friday, 19 August 2016
Holiday in Wales. Day 1
So at the end of August Compostgirl and I went off for a long weekend in Wales. We headed first to near St Davids, to Solva for a Jackie Morris book launch
KArin Celestine, of Celestine and the Hare was also there :)
Beautiful Solva Middle Mill
Saturday, 13 August 2016
Green Gathering 2016
I had SUCH a great time :)
As always Algy came with me :) he was admired and petted by lots of people.
he now has his own Instagram account Algythechicken
And I saw Seize the Day twice :) As well as lots of other great bands :) and went to loads of excellent, thought provoking talks.
roll on 2017
Monday, 1 August 2016
Catchup!
After a very long time where I have been very busy with all sorts of exciting stuff, then was unable to get into this blog to post the posts I had written about any of it - finally I am back!
But a very quick visit just to let you all know all is well.
So, what have I been up to?
The family are all well.
The cats are all well.
I am good and very busy with work :)
The chickens - I now only have 3 big hens ( Snowflake, Aggie and Ginger) but the four Serama chicklets are doing very well and are now 8 weeks old today :)
The veg garden is not doing very well, a combination of too wet/too dry/too cold/too warm at the wrong times has seen it all looking a bit sad this year. Apart from the polytunnel which is very productive, if a few weeks later than usual.
I have been working a lot which is great, doing Repair Cafes, writing funding bids for an exciting project, giving talks, going to shows and festivals with my craft workshops and chickens and running workshops on all sorts of things. Lots of chickens, growing and compost involved!
I can't update more at the moment as I am about to go off (literally, I am posting this just before leaving with a loaded car) for a week camping and working at Green Gathering. I will be doing workshops on composting and chicken keeping in the Permaculture area, so come and say hello if you are going :)
I will post some of the backlog of posts when I get back :)