sour update:

Howdy Folks:

Well, it has been 6 days sense we first turned the sour compost bed and found the bad smells. Yesterday morning we got out early after the all day Saturday rain and turned the bed again. All was smelling good like good compost should until we were about halfway down into the 5 foot tall pile and oops...caught the smell again. It was only one bad spot though and the rest of the compost pile was wonderful. What a difference a week made. I suppose the first turning allowed enough oxygen to get into the pile to turn it sweet. In any case the pile now smells like it should.

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

so I should be brave and check mine when the snow melts, yes?

How often do you turn it? I know Mel says....as often as you can. Monthly? More often?

I am actually thinking of making two bins....one full and one empty. When a kid misbehaves, they get to go turn compost. Seriously, that would straighten me out pretty quickly.

I have yet to find a negative reason. They get exercise. The compost/garden benefits. They actually complete a chore.

It just seems like when some of us were kids and were told to go chop firewood, or whatever, when we misbehaved. It's not like it's abusive....although no doubt today's society would think so.

The more often you turn it the better. It heats up and gets working. Seems like turning the compost would be a good chore for your kids. Dang! wish mine were still home!

I have two compost bins. One that we are throwing stuff on and the other one that we are turning and letting "work". Actually, I think I need a third.

Gwynn

BYBG:
We like to call it the Attitude Adjustment Pile! When the 12 year old needs reminding who's in charge, he has to go out and move it from one spot to the other.
We just have the one pile so it has to get moved from one side of the compost area to the other.

Happy to hear about the sweet smell of success (mostly).

I don't like the idea of compost turning as punishment. I hate the thought that anything about gardening is punishment. It's just a job and it must be done. I encouraged my boys to find the work "manly" and a good source of fishing bait and biceps.

These days I have two smallish tumbling bins and one bio-bin. I have discovered that I can turn the bins too often. I have turned them about every 3 days but discovered that does not give them enough time to get hot enough. Once a week is often enough in summer, once a month in winter seems to work for me.

Deborah….counting down the days to Lincolns birthday!

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:How often do you turn it? I know Mel says....as often as you can. Monthly? More often?

I am actually thinking of making two bins....one full and one empty. When a kid misbehaves, they get to go turn compost. Seriously, that would straighten me out pretty quickly.

I have yet to find a negative reason. They get exercise. The compost/garden benefits. They actually complete a chore.

It just seems like when some of us were kids and were told to go chop firewood, or whatever, when we misbehaved. It's not like it's abusive....although no doubt today's society would think so.

Howdy: We have 4 bins, 4' wide X 5 feet deep and 5 feet tall. We keep one empty to turn the others into in rotation. Also I picked up a shipping crate at work today that will make a dandy compost bin. This one will go to a dear friend for her backyard.

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

Ward and Mary, glad you fixed the compost smell. Nothing better than a pile of good earthy compost. yum yum.

I'm with Deb when it comes to gardening and punishment, but to each, their own.

I worry about the negative association with it, too. However, there is so much more positive they find with gardening that it won't be a big deal imo. Plus, they are a bit young still. This is more an idea for awnry teens that won't likely want to do anything with mom or dad in that phase anyway.

I can remember hating cutting grass. It was punishment in my house. However, now, I love it....and do it for a living.

People's interests are their interests. They change back and forth sometimes. I think back to the time periods I respect more....like the Depression Era and Little House on the Prairie times. People just did what they had to do, and if dad didn't want to, he had a kid go do it....end of story. It put hair on chests, too, and most importantly taught our kids that you can't always choose what you want to do over work.......something we don't teach our kids anymore as a country in my opinion. And, we are soft because of it. I respect members of those eras because they did whatever they had to to put food on the table. If it meant a 16 hour work day 6 days a week, that's just what it meant. Try getting a 35 year old man to do that w/o gritching and moaning about being mistreated anymore. /rant

And, sometimes after you grow up, you get interested in something you hated as a kid.....like broccoli.