One of my goals this fall was to become more intentional with my composting. I have always done a “let it sit” approach, which seems to have worked well – but it also takes quite a while, too. As I learned (and continue to learn) about hot composting, I learned that the compost will be turned quite a bit.
Earlier this fall I build a compost bin out of extra fence posts we had hanging around. It wasn’t a permanent set up, because eventually we will use the posts as, well, fence posts for pasture. But they could serve a purpose now, by holding materials for compost. I felt like a kid again, as if I were playing with lincoln logs… haha. I thought it might actually hold my actual compost pile, until I realized how turning the pile worked. I would want to have full access to all the sides of the pile. I could remove the front posts, because I inserted bits of cut up fence post to support the remaining sides – the front posts could just be pulled right out without interfering with the integrity of the bins. But I figured that wouldn’t be enough. So for now, it holds leaves and browns on one side, and greens on the other. Once I use up all the greens this season, it will hold finished compost. If I have any left to sit around.
So a couple of my kids and I built compost cages. We had some woven wire fencing up in a pen that needed to come down. The fencing wasn’t big enough to really use anywhere else but it would be perfect to build a few compost cages from.
This was a great opportunity for math to come to life. We had to calculate the circumference of the bin if we wanted a 6ft. diameter, measure the fencing with a measuring wheel, and cut. But before we cut, we needed to measure the whole length and find out if we could get more than a couple compost cages out of the length of fencing – at some point I would want more than one going at a time. So, we measured length, divided by our needed circumference, and found out we could get about 4 cages. We rounded the circumference to make them all about the same size, then cut.
Before we began putting the cage together, I piled all of our fresh ‘greens’ into the garden aisle and had my daughter run the pile over with the lawn tractor to chop it into bits. Having everything in small bits leads to more surface area and quicker composting.
Measuring 
Cutting 
Chopping the greens
After dragging them out to the garden, I used zip ties to secure the ends together (this was a mistake), set it up as round as I could, and began layering the cage with my browns, greens and manure. Using Elaine Inghams method, this worked out to be 60% browns, 30% greens, and 10% manure. We counted how many rows of wire were on the fencing and discovered there were 12 – so if we filled the cage up to the 10th row, we could divide the compost layers up based on the height of each row – two rows of brown, 1 row of green, a thin layer of manure, 2 rows of brown, 1 row of green, manure, repeat. Some people also use 10, 5-gallon buckets to get the right amounts, but you would need do that quite a few times in order to have a pile large enough to heat up enough.
I mentioned using zipties as my mistake – they hold just fine, but when it comes time to turn the pile, I will need to remove the cage. Remember how I mentioned wanting access to all the edges of the compost pile to turn it? Well, to turn a compost pile, the top goes on the bottom of another cage, then the outsides go to the inside, and you will the outside of the cage up with what was once the inside. So in order to use my original compost bin made of fence posts, I could be limited on three sides. That is why I built the cage. My plan was simply to cut the zip ties and unwind the fencing but after a few times that creates a lot of unnecessary waste. So now, my plan will be to use bungee cords!
Making a compost cage was very easy and very quick – and will be very effective. Hopefully you can do the same!