A couple days ago, Jack and I were wandering around the snowy Moby fields of the farm… all 1/10th acre that we have… and we decided to go and check out the compost pile.

Little dead stubs of broccoli are trying to poke out of the beds with all the snow. I was really surprised at how long the broccoli grew into the fall. This year I’ll have two lovely cold frames and I’m definitely going to set some late seed in them and grow fresh broccoli through the winter.

Well, the top of the pile has definitly gone down, and though we haven’t been adding as much to it now that the snow was deep, I can feel the heat off it. It’s not been turned or churned at all, and to be honest I think I have too many sticks in there, but it’s still working.

Well, after undoing the bottom flap, which works perfectly, we assessed the compost condition. Jack was quite interested, and we found that it was not quite rich humus as we might have liked, but it was a good rotty looking start. I am pretty sure that I need to mix it up a bit better and to make sure it’s not all leggy and sticky. I put too many sunflower stalks in there, and they are not breaking down very quickly.

I should have known better and well, to be honest, I think I did, but I was hoping that maybe it would work out good. It’s pretty matted and thick, and starting. Most likely I’m going to bury some of this material in my new beds that I’ll be starting in a month or two. Clean out the pile and be a little more careful about what I put in there. Make sure it’s not all leggy and gangly. I mean, nature is good at composting, but it would probably help matters a bit if I didn’t expect her to do miracles overnight. We have a nice woody section a bit down from us, and I think we can find a good resting spot in the fall for our sunflower stalks. And sticks, well, I’d like to stash them somewhere for our fire pit. They make good kindling for camping and such.

Then I’m going to get a package of compost starter and make sure I only put in good kitchen veggie scraps and grass clippings and garden waste that I chop up a bit. I have a neat little ax somewhere in the shed. I might get a little stump from somewhere and use it to chop up a little frustration before through the plant material to the compost gods.

Looks like we’ve had a few little bunnies visiting the garden in the snow. That’s okay, I don’t mind. They were really good last year and didn’t bother the gardens at all. I think with the kitties roaming about and then Gypsy, they are not too interested in the raised beds. Of course, that can always change but so far, I’m not worrying about it.

Can’t wait to get through this last month of snow and slush. It’s raining right now, and it was that crunchy half snow, half ice for awhile. Not fun. The roads look super slushy and yucky. No fun.