Fencing the compost

Last spring we started a compost pile. We've always had a dumping spot for food waste, usually in an unused field, but I wanted to be a little more intentional about it. Until now, it has been a literal pile. It works okay but tends to drift so I thought it was time to fence it in. You can buy all sorts of fancy bins and fence systems but this is the Haphazard Homestead. We're thrifty. And maybe don't put that much thought into things. 

So to delineate the edges of our compost I dug a trench around three sides of the pile (which turned up all sorts of lovely earthworms that I tossed under the rabbit pens so we can compost in place!). To make my fence, I cut the dried out stalks from a bunch of last year's cattails out of a section of swamp on our property. I stood them upright, maybe a hands-breadth apart, and packed dirt around them.

I'll keep you updated on how well that works at keeping the compost contained.