The Sweet Smell of Stinky Compost...

So in our yard away from the house under a pear tree was our or rather my first attempt at composting. Uhmmmm, it really was not working or so I thought. I wanted to fix it. After reading about compost bins on the net I decided to make one out of pallets. I called the two of the local lumber yards and one of them told me they returned their pallets but the other one told me that the received two kinds of pallets (one that they returned and the other they gave away). The nice gentleman told me that a guy had been coming in for weeks now and taking all of them. I was okay, thanks anyway. He asked how many I wanted and I told him 7 would be perfect and he said he would look around. He called me back and told me he found some. My nephew went to pick them up today and he brought me five pallets. It was an awesome start but I would be happy if I could get two more. So like every project around here I have no patience and decided today would be the day to get going on this. I started at 11:30, knowing I had to go to a staff meeting at 1:30. My first item on the list of things to do was take down the wire around the old compost bin. I originally wanted to move all the pile of rotting stuff and make the new bin in the same spot. BUT the pile was tall as me and it was wet and heavy and I quickly gave up on that brilliant idea. Dale went and got the tractor from grandpa and the ground was too muddy to get traction with the tractor even with chains on the tires. Hmmmmmmm. Then we decided to just build it on the other side of the tree, it would be okay. Now Dale had rode the 4-wheeler over to get the tractor and he was in a lot of pain today so that left it up to me to carry the pallets from the front of the house to the backyard. It is not terribly far but they were heavy and it was a distance. With them in the backyard I figured out how I wanted them and left Dale to screw them together. Went to the grocery store, the staff meeting and delivered two dozen eggs. When I got home, it was now time to fill up the new compost bins with the old stuff. Well lets just say that is was not easy. It was a mess and there was things in there that don't belong in a compost bin, makes me wonder how they got in there. We started pitchforking that stinky stuff in and as we got further in the pile, the pile started steaming. I soon realized that it was cooking and had been the whole time. We filled up the two new bins and there was a compost left. Honest to goodness compost that I had made out of chicken poop, goat poop, rabbit poop, shavings, grass clippings, veggie scraps. I made that stuff. It was wonderful beautiful stuff and I just played in it. Then I filled 10 wheelbarrows of that wonderful stuff and wheeled it down to my garden. Put two wheelbarrows full of compost in each raised bed and still have some black gold down there. I told my mom I loved her enough to share some of it with her, if she was extra good. That stuff is awesome and I made it.