A Break at Last Issue 10 – 06/01/13
At last a sunny morning – I have forgotten what it looks like.
I’ve been away for a week and had a little difficulty getting back
and then there was the snow and cold and a chronic disinclination
to get out of bed – all that’s behind me now – at least for now.
Here is the news:
Box 2 (the middle one) is now full and in need of a well earned rest.
I draped a layer of plastic over it in the hope of limiting the entry of water
(but from now on the sun is going to shine, isn’t it?)
Box 3 (south) was supposed to be quietly maturing ready for a 2nd delivery
to Middle Street School. To make room for more compost I bagged most of
its contents this morning, piling up the bags alongside – next
week I’ll give the school a ring and make an appointment for a 2nd delivery.
I left a thin layer of old compost with a healthy population of worms in the
bottom and added the contents of two plastic bags left at the site (as the
active box was full to the gills). You might like to know that I was being observed
by a most marvellous collection of chatty little songbirds in the trees, ogling a
potentially free meal of fat worms disappearing in the bags – sad in a way, but
the birds themselves seemed reasonably well fed, as far as I could tell, and their
chatter made me happy. So Box 3 is now ‘active’ and should last 6 weeks or so.
Box 1 (northernmost) is very wet. Plastic bags spread over the compost last
time collected a litre of water, most of which I was able to decant. The
compost is decidedly soggy, anaerobic and a bit smelly. It has rotted down
a bit since last time so it was possible to do a bit of feeble ‘turning’ and topping
up with cardboard (thank’s for the healthy state of supply!). The tools
are now locked into this box and plastic bags are draped over the contents.
I left a couple of torn plastic bags draped on the outside of two boxes – they
will blow away in the first breeze unless I remember to staple them to the boxes.
An old tarpaulin, if still on offer, would be welcome
(but from now on the sun is going to shine, isn’t it?)
With kind regards and apologies for the long period of neglect