Here is how I  built a composter for less than half the price of those pricey mail order ones.

Step 1: Purchase a plant tray that will accept a  5 gallon bucket with room to spare.

Step 2: Drill several holes around the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket.

Step 3: Fill half way with some compost from your local garden center.

Step4: Add your red wigglers. They are the best worm for effective, speedy composting. 

I bought these online and they arrived in about 2 days. 1,000 should get you moving along nicely.

Step 4: Thoroughly wet your mixture and store in a cool place out of direct sun.  The sun will fry those little composting worms, so keep them wet and out of the sun. Begin adding your organic contents from your kitchen and within a few weeks you will have your own home grown “black gold”. I bought a lid for my bucket, so that “little” hands will stay clear of  it, and to make sure it  does not dry out.  There is no smell. This is a small mini version of what agricultural missionaries are doing around the world.  Helping move people towards sustainable living at the same time creating cleaner, healthier living conditions.

From time to time, water your compost and the “tea” that seeps through will drain into the surronding pan.  This is what you will use to fertilize your plants both inside and out.

We live in a small town house planned community and have no yard.  I plan to put the compost in my potted plants and a small window box garden.  Once my worms have multiplied, I will drop a few of them in and around the soil surrounding our town-home.  The boys, I am sure, will use a few for fishing, and of course, I can share the wealth with any of my local friends who want to start their own composters.

The kids are having fun with this one!  It is a great learning tool! So what are you waiting for people?Get Composting!

I am a little late to the game with this but am hopping on board in hopes to deepen our family nature study.  In yr1 I have really worked on habit training, basic skills and learning an overall family rhythm to homeschooling. So things like artist study, nature study, foreign language and music study have been a “catch as catch can” as my father in law would say. There but not scheduled, more just when we thought of it.

Now, I am planning for these things within our homeschooling week and am excited to have someone giving a little structure and many others participating so I can learn.  Let’s face it, when you home-school, Mama’s are usually learning new things right along with their kids.  Most of us didn’t get this type of education ether. I also plan to read  Pocket-full of Pinecones in conjunction with this to inspire me along.

Shh, Look who came to our feeder last night. 

Enjoy the beautiful day!