Brian Cooper emailed this great photo of his rodent-proof, inexpensive compost tumbler, constructed from a 55 gallon barrel, a metal pipe, and some lumber.  He added a door, 3/8 inch holes for drainage, and some screws inside to break up the compost as it tumbled.

Brian wrote that if he had to do it all over, he would have made the door and ventilation holes larger.  On the other hand, the benefits far outweighed any slight growing pains.  Brian reports quicker, more broken up compost with less work and no pest problems.  He can easily collect compost tea draining out the bottom and can even snag black soldier fly larvae for the chickens!

Thanks for sharing your compost tumbler, Brian!  I plan to include it in Weekend Homesteader: March as well as in the paper book.  It beats my trellis compost bin by a long shot.

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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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