Harvesting compost

This weekend is so warm in Chicago– it’s in the mid 80s and sunny! Liam spent the day working on a aquaponic project at school, which he has promised to write about soon. Meanwhile back at home we emptied out the composter in preparation for winter. Last fall we left it too full and by February it was full and frozen solid, a big compost popsicle in the back yard.

I really like the tumbler (thank you clever Australians for inventing it!) but it is a bit tricky to empty out. I can’t figure out how to do it with just one person because you need someone to hold it horizontal and another to get the wheelbarrow under it and shovel out the compost. Also, the tumbling action makes for quick compost turnaround but on the other hand, part of the harvest work is to sift through it all and put back the uncomposted stuff. We took out about 5 5-gallon buckets worth (two heaping wheelbarrows).

We still have some green tomatoes on the vines, and I’m hoping this heat will ripen them up this weekend (it looks promising so far.) Once they are done, I’m going to pull out the stalks and spread the compost across the vegetable box, then cover it with leaves for the winter. Most of the photos in the slideshow are action shots of me and the compost, but also the turning leaves are from our oak leaf hydrangeas.

[slideshow]