Suburban Permaculture Laboratory

I just got back from a whirlwind tour of the Midwest, stopping in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio to spend time with my parents and old friends. I built a compost tumbler at my parent's house to convert their kitchen waste stream into a resource. The tumbler does not require a pitchfork to turn the pile, will not attract foraging mammals, and can generate finished compost quickly. I used gas line pipe as the crank. My parents will add their kitchen waste regularly, but every couple of weeks RNK here will come out and turn the crank to mix up the material, providing oxygen to the areas that have been settling. Occasionally aerating the material re-activates the thermophilic bacteria that decompose what has been collected, thereby speeding up the composting process.



I also helped my dad plant 12 grape plants to start his vineyard. They are fruiting less than 3 weeks after planting.