My Compost Obsession

Composting and Gardening go hand in hand. Arizona soil is not necessarily the best soil for growing things so it needs a bit of help. It's easy to reach for the bag of MiracleGrow, but that can get a bit pricey. I love making things out of other things so my wheels got to turning and I started my research.  After reading Randy's s BioWaste magazines I've learned that all of those kitchen scraps that end up in a landfill produce an abundant amount of noxious gases that end up polluting our environment. There are many large scale initiatives out there to try and curb the amount of kitchen waste that ends up in the landfills so I thought I would do my part for planet earth and compost our scraps--thus saving the planet and providing my veggies and flowers with homemade rich organic fertilizer. That and I just like the idea of making my own dirt. If you've been "Lowesing" lately ( I stole that term from Ashley and Matt) you know how much a bag of organic compost is. So that's how my backyard compost obsession started.

Our first efforts were crude and involved a large pile of "stuff" in the very back of the yard. Kitchen scraps, yard clippings, leaves, etc.. were left to rot in a pile. Well, this was not good for the neighbors behind us as the stench became quite unbearable. Plan A failed. I also tried my hand at Worm composting in big totes which worked well too until a crazy rainstorm came and flooded the poor things. More on that later.
On to Plan B. This is when I started my research in earnest. Phoenix has a program where they sell retired trash cans to the general public for composting. They cut off the bottom third of the container and sell for $5 each. My neighbor, Terri graciously offered to pick up 2 for me and for her. Here we go.
After layering green and brown materials in the proper proportions with a bit of store-bought compost, spraying periodically with water and using a pitchfork to aerate, I am proud to report that I've used one batch of compost in my raised beds and working on more now. The first batch had several big chunks of wood and some rocks which wasn't ideal, but Randy made a chipper to chop up the branches, etc.. from the yard which helped tremendously.I learned the hard way to chop up the kitchen scraps which will make them break down much much faster. Whole heads of cabbage take FOREVER so I chop.
Just takes a month or two to get beautiful black gold that has an earthy organic scent...not smelly in the least.  Success!!
There are lots of websites devoted to composting  but here are a few just in case.
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/composting-101
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/5-easy-steps-fast-compost
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/surprising-compost-items.htm
I was surprised to see how many things you can compost..... Tea bags, hair, vacuum cleaner bag contents, lint, pasta...lots of stuff.  Love it!



City of Phoenix recycled garbage cans




Left: Compost ready to use
Right: Compost in action



Homemade chipper Randy made from old lawnmower and PVC

Gardens: getting started

We live in a typical Phx neighborhood on 1/3 acre of property. We are blessed with trees and grass and an unusual yard layout. The pics below are of my gardens' humble beginnings in 2012.  The top pic is of the "back garden" which is in the very back (west)  of our backyard. The bottom is the "side garden" and on the north side of our house.  I am relatively new to gardening so these gardens were true experiments for sure. I enjoy every bit of it and don't even mind failure...I just like it.  Both gardens have undergone several transformations and I am happy to report successful harvests, successful in my eyes anyway. With the help of my ever-helpful and skilled husband, my gardens get watered automatically and protected from birds, dog and children.  I couldn't do it without him.

 Back Garden: 4x8 raised beds from lumber we had laying around, PVC, chicken wire and deer netting to keep the critters out.

Side garden.

 Zucchini and tomatoes in raised beds.

 Squash, cucumbers, lettuce, radishes, herbs and even corn in the side garden! Sweet!  (May 2012)

 The big cucumber is an Armenian cucumber I grew in the rocks in the perimeter of my side yard.

 Anaheim chilis, jalepenos and mexibells from the back garden.

Salad greens, peppers a weird carrot and loads of tomatillos. I grew the tomatillos in a random location in the perimeter of the back yard as an experiment.

 

We have chickens. Really?

This month I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get chickens. I am enamoured by the thought of fresh eggs as well as collecting poop for my garden and compost experiment.  Hens are allowed in the Phoenix metropolitan area- roosters are not. So I drove down to the feed store and picked up 3 chickens. 3 seemed like a good number. I don't know anything about raising chickens but with YouTube, Pinterest and Google on my side I figured I had plenty of help. I brought the girls home on Feb 4th, 2013 and put them in the baby's nursery. The baby is 5 months old and still sleeping in our room so the nursery was not being used.

 The girls--1 week old.  Red (Rhode Island Red), Nuggets (Barred Rock -black one), and Lucy (White Leghorn)

Chicken nursery.
As a newbie chicken momma I did not realize how fast these little eating machines would grow. They outgrew the blue tote within a week. I went to Spencer's appliance store and got a freezer box for their new home. I added a dowel rod for a roost and deer netting over the top and they were much happier. Still in the baby's room but more space for them to run around. They are starting to get more active and curious and their personalities are certainly starting to emerge. They will soon move outside to their permanent coop.

Introduction

I’ve lived in the Phoenix metropolitan area for 20+ years so technically I am an Arizonan, but deep inside I know where home is. I’m a true Okie from Muskogee and until I'm able to make the pilgrimage back to Green Country, Arizona is my temporary home and a good one I might add. This really is a great place to live with loads of sunshine which makes me smile even in the dead of winter. But even with all of this awesomeness, I find myself longing for family, friends, expansive pastures, green foliage and even the good old Midwest rainstorms from time to time.

I am the mother of 3, experimental gardener, aspiring farm girl, lead singer in a band and have been a pharmacist for the past 20 years.  In September 2013 I stopped working to stay home with our baby boy who was born requiring emergency surgeries.  I am blessed to be able to be with baby Wyatt and have made it a goal of mine to live a much simpler Oklahoma inspired lifestyle and enjoy every second of this remarkable life. 

This blog is an attempt to connect AZ and OK with family, friends old and new-- and to share a little of our OK homesick desert life with everyone.