a boy, two dogs, and some fallen logs

Have you entered my Spring Has Sprung Photo Contest yet?  Don't delay, the deadline is looming!

I finally decided to delve into the world of composting.  Mr. Hull and I had discussed the idea at some point in the past, but somehow it had gotten put off... indefinitely.

Well, I had to go to Lowe's last week to buy some manure for our veggie patch.  While I was there, I got to thinking that it was kind of silly for me to be forking over money for some bagged poop.  And, while I don't want to put my own poop on my garden, or that of my dogs, I figured I could remedy this issue for future years by starting a compost bin now.

On Thursday, Alex and I ventured into the backyard to build our new compost bin.  Over the course of the past few years, Mr. Hull and his father had cut down some trees in our backyard.  We still had some logs sitting around and I decided that I would use those to fashion our free bin. 

After some grunt work, weed-pulling, and log-lifting, this is what I had.  Three sides were comprised of logs, while the back was made up of random pieces of lumber that were left over from various projects.  While I'm ambivalent to the back-woods hillbilly look, as it really just resembles a stacked pile of logs, I really liked the price. 

 

Over the weekend, we diligently saved our scraps and took them out to the bin.  We threw in some leaves and paper, too.  Everything was going well.

Today, Alex went out to the bin with our scrap bucket.  His job was to toss in the scraps and stir the mix.  Well, a few minutes after he left the house, he came back through the door.  "The dogs," he said.  "The dogs are in the compost box."  Rushing outside, I did not see the dogs anywhere near the box, but I did see that the front side had completely collapsed.  

The solution?  Mr. Hull is going to buy some sort of cheap compost bin solution, probably this:

We'll set it inside the bin that I built out of logs, for extra protection from the dogs.  Live and learn.  

Do you compost?  Do you use a heap, a bin, or another method?  Have you been successful in actually getting good soil out of the experiment?  Do you have any tips or tricks to share?