Compost pile in Schwenksville PA.

Anyone in this area....(19473)....let it be known that I have found a source of compost. This compost is made of brush, leaves and what ever trimmings they receive. The site is quite large, having many other mountains of material.like mulch and topsoil.. I picked up 4 five gallon containers, lady told me I could have as many 5 gallon containers I could fit in my car for ten dollars. Other wise $40.00 per yard.
I will add some items such as chicken, cow manure, some blood and bone meal, maybe a few more items I can think of. I did this in my first season of SFG and it was very successful.
Looks like there are some wood fibers in it, although it all looks finished. If in the area, be worth while to stop in and see it if thinking about picking some up. It will be a while before I get to using it, I will keep posted when I can.

link to their website, ...very interesting story...http://www.barnsidefarm.com/

 Nice, Jimmy!

It seems that nowadays there are many more places that have compost available. A great sources as a basis, so that you can add stuff like you are going to do.

Our city has free compost sometimes, when a householder will be given two bags.  Last time I collected some my friend kindly took me with her to collect hers, and I managed to split one of my  bags as I took it our of her trunk.  The compost was in a doubled paper bag and the compost had been in it a bit too long. At least her trunk got cleaned out.

Jimmy, will you be screening out the wood pieces? Or are they very incidental?

@sanderson wrote:Jimmy, will you be screening out the wood pieces?  Or are they very incidental?

No,  I dont believe screening is necessary as they are really so small and part of the compost. No screening is needed anyway. Believe me, I would screen if I though it was needed as I love my mixes fine and loose..Those wood pieces are like fine straw.

The city of Lawrence KS composts yard and tree waste like that. They sell the compost for $10 a pickup or small trailer load. I have a bin that is 4ft x 8ft x 6ft that I fill in the fall and use it the next year for my gardens and to make potting mix. They also have biosolids (milorganite) that is free for the taking that I have used on my grass and flowers with good success.

@ronbart wrote:The city of Lawrence KS composts yard and tree waste like that. They sell the compost for $10 a pickup or small trailer load. I have a bin that is 4ft x 8ft x 6ft that I fill in the fall and use it the next year for my gardens and to make potting mix. They also have biosolids (milorganite) that is free for the taking that I have used on my grass and flowers with good success.

Get that compost anyway you can, I prefer doing my own, however I am now in the same situation I was in when starting SFG. In a new home with no compost, makes me feel like I am naked. Seriously, I have become so dependent on compost I feel lost without a finished pile and one working. I do have a full  tumbler warming up now that it is full.
I may get another to keep my kitchen scraps going.
What you're doing is great, I might suggest leaves in fall or when ever you can get them, just pile them up in a wired container and forget them till done....

It is hard to make enough compost for everything that I use it for. I have two compost bins working all the time. One of them uses soldier fly larvae. I have a vermicomposting barrel under construction to utilize the leachate from the soldier flies and waste paper. I just planted some comfrey to use as an addition in my bins. You might say I am as addicted to composting as I am to gardening.

@ronbart wrote:It is hard to make enough compost for everything that I use it for. I have two compost bins working all the time. One of them uses soldier fly larvae. I have a vermicomposting barrel under construction to utilize the leachate from the soldier flies and waste paper. I just planted some comfrey to use as an addition in my bins. You might say I am as addicted to composting as I am to gardening.

I feel your addiction Ron. I had three bins going, 27 cubic feet in each one. I hustled all kind of manures from farmers, and horse farms.  my kitchen waste was a joke compared to what I was picking up from local supermarkets. I was able to get some of their discarded produce. Lots of greens, after adding browns. I was able to finish a pile in 3 to 4 weeks.
I much rather compost than garden. However I am on a very small scale now and staring all over.

@ronbart wrote:It is hard to make enough compost for everything that I use it for. I have two compost bins working all the time. One of them uses soldier fly larvae. I have a vermicomposting barrel under construction to utilize the leachate from the soldier flies and waste paper. I just planted some comfrey to use as an addition in my bins. You might say I am as addicted to composting as I am to gardening.

We've got a buddy who also does soldier fly composting. He swears by it. And he's an old vermicomposter....

@AtlantaMarie wrote:

@ronbart wrote:It is hard to make enough compost for everything that I use it for. I have two compost bins working all the time. One of them uses soldier fly larvae. I have a vermicomposting barrel under construction to utilize the leachate from the soldier flies and waste paper. I just planted some comfrey to use as an addition in my bins. You might say I am as addicted to composting as I am to gardening.

We've got a buddy who also does soldier fly composting.  He swears by it.  And he's an old vermicomposter....

How does that work  Marie ? fly's instead of worms ?

Soldier flies will break things down a lot faster than worms. They also will eat things that you shouldn't put in regular compost bins or worm composters, like citrus, onions, or food scraps with meat or grease. They won't break down cellulose. The only problem is that they turn it into more protein than compost. I plan to use the fly larvae to feed chickens this year. The flies generate a lot of heat so red worms won't co-exist but will live in the pile under them where it is cooler. I want to try using soldier flies to dispose of dog waste from my yard, then put the their waste into a worm bin to act as a second bio filter. I will use the resulting castings on my trees and ornamentals.

Jimmy, I don't know his whole system... But I know it's self-cycling. Including getting the chickens involved, like ronbart.

He puts everything in there (kitchen scraps). The maggots, I guess, eat the scrapes & turn in to flies. The flies end up feeding the chickens...

I'll see if I can get some photos from him.

Actually, it's the maggots that are fed to chickens.