Hey, What About that Kick-Ass $14 Compost Bin?

In the very first post in this blog, I commented that I wanted to write about just about anything, including the kick-ass compost bin that my husband and I made for $14. If you've ever shopped for a compost bin, you know you can buy all kinds of fancy-schmancy composters, most of them well over $80. Some of them roll, some of them have a handle so you can rotate them, and some come with special worms. Turns out you don't need any of that stuff. So instead, make this super-easy, super-cheap compost bin and save that $66+ and have a nice dinner out.

You need:
A drill
1 large garbage can, 32 gallon or bigger
(My favorite one of ours is this Rubbermaid Animal Stopper that cost $20 at Walmart and came with a built-in latch system - don't buy this at the link I provided. There's no reason it should cost this much! I just wanted you to know what it looked like. You can also buy a $10 garbage can and a $3-4 bungee cord hook thingie and have the same thing. We have two of these and they work just dandy.)

Instructions:
Drill 1/4" holes around the sides of the can. If you're going to leave your compost bin on a driveway or concrete, that's pretty much it. If you're going to put your compost bin on actual ground, also drill holes around the bottom of the can. Leo probably drilled 20-30 holes in the bottom. This allows the worms to come up from the ground and noodle around in your compost, which helps it break down faster. Now fill your can with compost. That's pretty much it. No mixing or turning needed. Could it possibly be easier?

Tip: We layer our compost. We keep a closed bag of leaves from autumn sitting next to the bin and when we put food scraps in the bin, we cover it with some leaves. That cuts down on flies and other undesirables, and also keeps the compost well-balanced.

We filled up three of these things last summer and fall. Then, over the winter, we let them sit. When we opened them up this spring, we discovered the bins now had half of the volume we put in there last year, and we had some really nice, rich compost for our gardens this year.

We learned about this strategy from The Urban Homestead, a book that helped us get started in urban homesteading. Beware, though: if you read this book, you may be inclined to order yourselves some chickens. They're quite persuasive.