Back in the spring I started looking at compost bins. We’d not done proper composting here, for a variety of reasons, alot of which boiled down to having a ton of things to do.
With almost two acres of property, almost all of it grass (or well, grass, clover, and a variety of green weeds that mow just like grass), on a property were I not only don’t have to water the grass to keep it green, we have to mow it twice a week at least over the leach fields to keep it from jumping to knee high. If we used the bagger attachment for the riding lawnmower we could fill up one of the little compost bins in one mowing.
But the big compost bins are way to expensive for what they are.
So I started looking at building a bin.
And then after some discussion we decided to skip using a bin at all. I doubt anything other than steel would keep out our wildlife if it really decided it wanted into the bin anyway.
So now I have a compost pile down by the southern back line. I know the rabbits (or something) have stolen some of the vegi greens and trimmings out of it at least a few times, but thats ok. They don’t seem to be inclined to dig through the whole pile, which is what I really cared about. I gotta say its composting nicely. Can’t wait to have good dirt for next spring’s garden additions!
Nothing wrong with having a compost pile on the ground. Did that for the first 15, or so, years at my previous house. If you have trees around it though, they may send roots up thru the pile so you won’t get to use very much of the soil. However, since my main goal was to recycle, not necessarily get anything out of it, it worked for me.
To avoid the trees I’d have to put it right smack in the middle of the yard, 2 acres or not! I’m compromising by flipping the pile every week which changes the exact location its sitting in so I can mow over the “old” spot to try to keep that from being to much of an issue.