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, 10 February 2008

oooh I love tidying my garden!!


Am having to do quite heavy work with compostman on this border...a VERY overgrown Buddleia Davidii Alba, a "Tennis Ball Tree" and Hamamelis vernalis a Witch hazel have taken over and are seriously getting in the way .....so some EXTREME pruning was called for......cue compostman and his chainsaw!!
This is one of the beds where I need to deal with the rat nest and tunnels...I am going to dig out any tunnel and hole I find...that should upset them enough that they go elsewhere in the garden for a bit, at least...
Here are some roses which had got a bit out of hand in one bed..so they had to go, too!! I must admit, I like Roses BUT I regard them as an awful waste of time...SO much effort for only a few weeks of beauty...ah well I expect there is some deep seated "zen" reason why I still make space for them....



We got 4 wheelbarrows of small logs off this pruning plus a couple of barrowloads of big logs ...so worth doing as it runs the woodburner for a few days on that
And then the trusty shredder ( a Bosch ATX 2200...amazing machine!!!!!) produced barrowloads of wonderful shredded wood...its great as a mulch and its WONDERFUL to mix in with the compost bin stuff!!!

...and also the shreddings are really useful to mulch under the shrub beds to keep the weeds down...( even if the hens DO think the mulch is just there for THEIR benefit!!!!!)

Finally an bonfire for all the bitty bits we can't shred or compost....and its a nice thing to sit by at the end of a hard days work.......

Saturday, 9 February 2008

A Rant about Bloody con trails!!!!



These are a couple of photos I took of the sunset today...lovely aren't they ? BUT...see the lines??
They are aeroplane condensation ( con) trails.............

See how many there are??

IMO loads of aeroplanes flying to mainly pointless destinations carrying people on mainly pointless journeys....wasting fuel and generating a shed load of Carbon Dioxide in the process....

Ok some flights are necessary, and some people need to make some flights...BUT come on..........

Ggggrrrrrrrrrr

It makes me very worried when every night I see more and more flights overhead whilst at the same time I read, hear and know about the CO2 driven climate change disaster our species seems determined to sleepwalk into...

OK I use fossil fuel...I drive a car..I use petrol in the mower etc . BUT we try to be as fuel frugal as we can and I do not fly to Paris for £10 or whatever the latest silly offer is...just because its a cheap offer!!!! In fact I have flown twice in the last 20 years ( both flights long haul) and I have pledged to myself not to fly again unless it is a family crisis or somesuch, something I will do my utmost to stick to.
Sometimes I think we (the Human race) deserve everything which is going to happen to us, climate change wise....

cos we can be SO stupid considering we are supposed to be SO intelligent........

Friday, 8 February 2008

The Sundial....and a Herefordshire sunset.....

In my last post I showed you a side view of our sundial...but I suddenly thought
"you need to see what it looks like on top!!" so here it is!! it says " Let others talk of stormy showers, I only count your sunny hours"


Also a view from my kitchen window at this time of year.....


And as we are marking the passage of time, some photos of a fabulous Herefordshire sunset for you to enjoy....

I took these, leaning on my rake, at the end of a VERY long, hard day of work...somehow it made them feel EVEN more special to me because I had worked hard..I appreciated the pause in my life to stop, look and enjoy the sunset....



I am lucky, my life allows me to experience this sort of moment as a natural part of my day...but EVERYONE could stop, pause and just ENJOY the moment...and just BE....

Try it!! You may find it VERY addictive!!

;) ;)

Wednesday, 6 February 2008

Yet more hard work in the Garden

Haven't we had some beautiful weather in the last few days!!
This beautiful sunshine!! It has dried up the ground enough for us to get out into the garden and do more digging, tree felling, weeding and clearing up. We have lots of perenial boarders which I leave over the Winter for the insects and birds to enjoy the shelter and the seed heads.



BUT it is now time to clear the old stuff out and put it on the compost bins, before all the new growth REALLY gets going.

So here are some before and after pictures of some of the boarders. I still have to dig them over and mulch them, but at least I can fill up the compost bins with all the lovely stuff I have chopped down! :)

Oh and have a bonfire of all the bitty bits I can't shred, compost or twig pile.
Compostman adding a rotten old pallet to the bonfire....I shall add the ashes to the compost bins when they are cold.



And just for fun a picture of our sundial :)

Tuesday, 5 February 2008

A trip to Bishops Wood Environment Center

I spent a very enjoyable day last Sunday at a Master Composter course held at Bishops Wood Environment Center, near Kidderminster.

We had a morning of lectures on how to improve our composting advice giving skills, then a very scrummy lunch, then some practical "making up potting compost" from scratch and then finally a tour of the Center. It was a really good day, although I had an early start and I got home very late!


Below are a few pictures I took from my day out.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting The Environment centre


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The lake , which is rainwater runoff from the building, cleaned and used to flush the loos, and the waste water is cleaned by the reedbeds and used again.


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One of the rain water run off funnels into the lake, The building is on legs to help with the passive ventilation system. In the summer hot air rises out through the glass cupola and cool air is drawn up into the building from under the floor via vents.

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How many Master Composters does it take to mix up some potting compost??

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Some of my fellow Master Composters in action!

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Me with my planted up pot.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting Our guide showing us the lovely Tree Bogs...!



Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting An authenticly designed and hand made Saxon Hall...it was very cosy inside as well!


Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting Anyone remember these?? Designed by Roger Dean ( of Yes album covers fame!) They were buried in the ground up to the bottom of the windows. Think they were called Eco Pods??

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting One of the many Living Willow structures on the site. Bishops Wood runs courses on all sorts of environmental themes.

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