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 24 February 2020

A walk in the wood


Those of you who are not familiar with my blog may not realise we are lucky enough to own a 3 acre wood as part of our smallholding.

So, I thought it would be good to take you on a walk with me, into the wood



Walking into the wood, past swathes of wild daffodils.


Over where the badger path crosses ours, and to where they go down and then up the ditch that runs all the way down the middle of the wood, bisecting it from top to bottom


Back up from the bottom of the wood past yet more wild daffodils




Can you see Compost Mansions in the image, above?



Back to the top of the wood looking across to the composting area and the outside raised beds




Some wild daffodils I picked while we were out in the wood

Saturday 22 February 2020

Calligraphy workshop


I went on a lovely workshop today in Ledbury, run by Caroline Owen Thomas. 
There were 7 ( I think?) of us and it was a most enjoyable day


Thursday 20 February 2020

Treats and rewards Love Lula beauty box subscription.


One of my decisions for 2020 was to look after my body rather more than I had been doing, before, both inside and out (all part of my increased levels of self esteem, as well as increasingly needed as I get older 😊) 


I like shopping online at Lovelula and they do a very good value subscription box each month of assorted body and beauty products. 

As a big reward for not having drunk alcohol for 50 days, I decided to take out a subscription with some of the money I have saved by not drinking alcohol. Here is the first box, delivered in recycled, compostable packaging. 



Lots of lovely, vegan ethical bodycare products, to soothe and pamper my skin 😊



Tuesday 18 February 2020

Signs of Spring.

Today it was sunny and, out of the wind, quite warm. 

I went to Ledbury to do some bits of shopping, some more hand towels from Issac's, some hand sanitiser from Boots (yes, they had some!) and to stock up on a few essentials (gf and ordinary flour, butter, cat food, milk, a few canned goods ) from the Co op. 

While out, I spotted this Queen Bumblebee on a pot outside a shop. 






Sunday 16 February 2020

An errant hen

Fleck the Serama hen had been missing for 5 days . We were pretty certain she was hiding somewhere, and when Compostman spotted her this morning under the bird feeder, we kept a careful eye on her to see where she went. 


We found her hiding on a nest with 9 eggs in, behind the JCB bucket. She and the eggs have been moved to safety back in the hen house. If you look carefully you can just make her out under the bucket! 


Very grumpy at being found out! I doubt she will continue to sit on them, from past experience, now we have moved her but we shall see. 

Friday 7 February 2020

Shopping


Today I went shopping in Ledbury, adding to the supplies, getting some hen and cat food, stocking up on toiletries from The Apothecary Shop and on food from Handley Organics and The Co op. 

The Co op had a rather sad looking reduced bunch of flowers, so I bought them as a little treat for myself. 

After I'd unpacked all the shopping and put it away I went for a walk and also picked some Snowdrops. 


And here are the results 😊

Wednesday 5 February 2020

Some flowers, to cheer us up


It's STILL raining here! I feel maybe I should start building an Ark?

I went on a very soggy walk around Moors Wood today, so here are some Snowdrops.


Monday 3 February 2020

Tidy up

                     

So, February. Normally, the start of outside gardening, with bed clearing and bed digging and mulching; but its far too wet and soggy and cold to do anything outside

So I decided to clear out the porch ready to start off the tomato seeds in the heated propagators.



 Its a bit of a mess in there, old plants, stuff dumped over Christmas, old growing medium still in the propagators and lots of cobwebs



Part way through, much tidier!


I cut back the overwintering geraniums which were in the porch as well and put the stems into a jar of water for later propagation.

It felt good to be doing something to do with gardening!



Saturday 1 February 2020

Inaugural Repair Cafe Ledbury

Just having lunch at The Nest, Ledbury, after an enjoyable and successful time as a repairer at the inaugural Ledbury Repair Cafe.

I spoke to more than 30 people during the morning and repaired an assortment of things, some involving sewing in some form,  repaired a zip with pliers, and advised people on other craft based repairs. Many people are bringing me stuff to fix "next time"

We had a lot of people visit us in the three hours we were open, and all 14 of the repairers were busy, as was our cafe!

Compostman was also a repairer and fixed a number of things, a cd player, a table lamp and a kettle, amongst other stuff.

Good to be part of something helping to reduce landfill waste and promise a more sustainable way of life. 

Getting ready for the off! 

Darning a hole in someone's much loved fleece

Compostman fixing a kettle

Ink Wells waiting me to research glue removal and restoration. 
UA-40361266-1