Blackberries and Compost

I‘ve been so slack with composting for the past few years. As in, I haven’t been doing it at all. The last time I had a compost bin was when we lived in Sydney. I had one identical to the one in the picture below, and loved it. I love composting. Love it.  It amazes me how something that rots and decays can become this beautiful, living thing. I adore the cycle of it all; the saving bin space, making the place smell better, making soil, giving food to my plants, all of it. That just about everything can have a purpose even after its original purpose is complete.

When we moved out of Sydney to go to Stockinbingal, we decided to leave our compost bin behind to make room on the truck. I always forgot until now to get another. Now that we live in a place with a tiny kitchen, composting has become a much higher priority. Also, we’re running out of bin space outside, which is always a big wake-up call for bad habits, isn’t it?

I really wanted a rotary compost bin, and had found a good deal for one at Bunnings when I googled. But, of course, when I sent my man out to get one, they were all out of stock. You win this round, xmas. Anyway, he found and got the one below.

I’m actually glad we got this one first, in hindsight. Even though this bin won’t compost as fast as a rotary, it can hold a lot of compost, which is what we need. Eventually, we’ll get a rotary one to help speed the process, then the one above will be more used for bulk compost-in-waiting.

I also ordered a bokashi bin online (on xmas eve? What was I thinking?), and am psyched to get it! I’ve never used one before, but have heard wonderful things, and it seems crazy not to compost meat, citrus, onions, dairy and eggs if it’s possible. I ordered the Urban Composter type. (That is not a sponsored/affiliate link. I’m simply sharing the link so you can see what it looks like without me nicking their photo)

I remember researching bokashi bins a few years ago, and they were so expensive, I never got around to buying one. But the Urban Composter one is cheap and looks so much sexier than most of the ones I’ve seen. Perhaps it’s the slut of the bokashi world?

Now, when I was setting up my compost bin under a big shady tree, look what I found! A blackberry bush. I wanted to make sure it was actually a blackberry plant, so I hit google and enlisted Missy 12 to help me research and identify it. ‘You want me to research something? Of course I’m in!’ That’s my girl.

Now, I know blackberry bushes are a pretty nasty weed and a nightmare to remove. But come on, blackberries? I want. What I’d like to ideally do is to grow them somewhere I can control and contain them, then eradicate the canes in the unwanted parts of the yard. I was thinking maybe I could plant it on this old frame that looks as though it used to grow tomatoes:

We were going to reef it out because it’s rather ugly, but I think we’ll keep it now, because by the time the blackberries have covered it, we won’t be able to see the frame anyway.

I’ve also decided not to knock down this:

This is an old outdoor laundry shed. It’ll need some boarding up at the windows and holes, but look at the sink in here!

This is going to be our new worm farm soon! I can’t get into it yet, because we need to cut the padlock (no key). I’m a bit freaked out about clearing this shed out, because I’m afraid it’ll have snakes or rats in there! So I’m going to be making sure I have help with that. I also have been looking for a good place to keep a mushroom farm, so this can house that too.

Argh, all these plans. It’s bringing them to fruition that takes the time, huh?