Animal cover for wooden bin

[applestar]

If you want to "compost" materials that are generally not recommended for regular aerated composting, you may want to look into other processes. (You don't want to ruin a good compost pile by doing the wrong thing....)

Bokashi fermenting is batch processed in anaerobic conditions and can (need to) be done in tightly closed container -- large scale projects are done in metal drums. Smaller projects can be done with 5 or 2 gal buckets. But they need moderately warm conditions and are better for warmer months, though I believe they can be left dormant outside. I usually start a bit of this in the garage during fall-winter since the strong kimchee-like smell didn't go over well with rest of the family when I tried it in the kitchen. (Personally, I think it smells kind of yummy....) During the summer, it gets too hot for good fermentation temperatures -- somewhere between 50's to 70's °F. If you have a basement/cellar that would be ideal.

If you have outdoor structures with frost protection, and livestock or pets or hobbies that can benefit from the by-product, BSF (black soldier flies) "composting" -- actually more like digesting -- bin can handle meats and other proteins and will generate feed or bait. Outdoor structure for obvious reasons -- namely the inevitable adult flies. I have read about this often but have never tried it, though I do find some BSF LARVAE in my regular outdoor compost bin during the summer.

[wsommariva]

My bins are in the shade and don't get very hot.

Will be a learning curve. I don't expect many meat items. I get a good gallon a week of kitchen scraps. Later this month I will get a large turkey carcass. I'll throw that in. A good test.

[rainbowgardener]

You started out this thread saying you didn't put meat in. Personally I still wouldn't. Boil the carcass for soup then let the bones dry out thoroughly. Then you can grind them into bone meal, a good soil additive for phosphorous and calcium.

[wsommariva]

I never put meat in due mainly to the bears. But in the winter I can add the little meat products I get, maybe. I guess I'd have a problem in the Spring when the bears are hungry and the frozen meat thaws out.

So I'm unsure of adding meat at this point.

But my cover looks great. Hope to have a mess free winter.

And as far as my left over leaves I think I use them as mulch next Spring.

[toxcrusadr]

Beef and pork bones will last a long time, being solid bones. Bird bones - chicken and turkey - go faster. I've put the entire turkey remains - after boiling for stock for course, and skimming off the fat to use in bird suet blocks - into the center of the pile, vegetables and all. By spring all I find is the breast bone and maybe a leg or two. If you break the large leg and wing bones open they will go even faster.
If I ever sell my house people are going to find steak and ham bones under the mulch and buried in the garden. They're probably going to think I was a mass murderer, but I'm just recycling. I swear, Officer.

[wsommariva]

All my bins are in the shade. At what temps do you think decomposing stops?

[rainbowgardener]

As ambient temperatures drop composting slows down. Probably doesn't entirely stop until the compost pile freezes, but it gets slower and slower. In a larger compost pile, the center will stay warm from the heat of decomposition a lot longer than the outside. You can help it stay working longer by putting a tarp over it or otherwise enclosing it to hold heat in (but it still needs some air circulation). Even in zone 6, I kept adding compostables on top of the pile all winter. It would freeze, but then it starts composting again as soon as ambient temps start warming. Even through winter, stuff is gradually breaking down some, from the action of freeze thaw cycles, etc.

[wsommariva]

I'll start adding small amounts of meat weekly. See what happens. If my brand new fancy cover ends up damaged, I'll stop.

Thanks everyone.

[toxcrusadr]

We don't eat a ton of meat at our house, there are two of us, and almost nothing goes to waste, so I would say we are very light on the meat inputs. I have a plastic bin with a locking cover and I always cover the kitchen scraps with leaves or other stuff and keep the lid on. We aren't in the country but close a creek and forest so there is plenty of wildlife not to mention neighborhood dogs. I don't have problems with varmints or flies. One other thing I do besides making stock to reduce meat waste: any fat gets rendered out or scraped off the top of the stock pot and put into a jar in the fridge. I make suet blocks for the birds using bread crumbs, stale nuts, cereal rubble, etc. So by the time anything reaches the compost it's been boiled and rendered within an inch of its life. I haven't taken the time to dry and grind the bones and the turkey and chicken bones disappear fairly quickly.

[wsommariva]

Update

Varmits 3
Me 0

First they pushed out my 4 inch pvc aeration pipe; secured it

Then they dug under at the only place I did not have heavy pavers; added another paver

Then they just moved the cover off the top; I just added 50 pounds of pavers to the top.

But no messes.

Long winter ahead