Compost tumbler
Since we were starting
entirely from scratch with cold weather nipping at our toes, Mark and I
made a few time-saving but money-spending decisions. One was a compost
tumbler, currently
$83 on Amazon --- a pretty good buy with a few minor downsides.Downside one is mentioned in the reviews --- the model is a bit tedious and fiddly to put together. I think it might have taken me an hour or two to assemble the tumbler with hand tools back before we had electricity. Of course, that was working entirely on my own, and I'm quite a bit less handy than Mark. Together (with the help of a battery powered driver), we likely could have put it together in thirty minutes flat.
Downside two is the size --- the unit feels smaller than it looks on the internet, and Mark (the main compost dumper) says it can be a bit tricky to fit scraps through the door without spilling any. That said, the interior is bigger than it looks --- I think we spent over a month filling up the first bin despite cold weather slowing decomposition. We're still hard at work filling bin two.
Which brings me to the major advantage of this model --- the tumbler is separated into two chambers. This is a major plus since you can fill one side then let it cook down as you fill the other. I'll keep you posted as our first round of Ohio-grown compost bakes!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I will have to look into this one. Our compost bin is a bit cumbersome and hard for me to tumble once it starts filling up but hey it was free so I'm not going to complain too much but an easier one would be nice. Thanks for sharing.
JenW~