Compost Beginnings-Circle of Life

Last year, Biceps and I made our DIY Spinning Composter to speed up the process of breaking down organic materials (a couple of weeks instead of a couple of months).

The composter was repinned so many times on pinterest, that we made a video showing exactly how the composter operates.

I love recycling the stuff I normally would toss in the garbage as I’m cooking.

I’m using a large pickle jar to gather my kitchen scraps-taking it out to the composter when it’s full and overflowing with goodness.

I opted for a glass jar, rather than plastic-due to the stinky factor.

Soon, what you see here will be composted down into beautiful black compost.

My garden will say “Yum!”, pushing this nutrient rich compost through their hardy roots and into the plant .

And I will say “Yum” when my plants are producing a bountiful harvest due to the increased nutrients, with which I will once again compost the peelings, tips and scraps back into the garden.

It’s the circle of life.

It’s a Rainy Day-Garden Prep

Today was the day for planting my garden. But, mother nature has been in a bad mood-crying all over the place. It has rained for the last three days-with tiny spurts of dryness in between monsoons.

So instead of donning mud boots yesterday, the best friend and I had a day trip planned for Arkansas. But, I’ll tell you more about that soon.

In the meantime, I know that my two DIY Rain Barrels are filling to capacity.

And my empty DIY Composter is getting a good cleansing.

But, I am ready to attack my garden with shovels, seeds and stakes. So mother nature-you’d better dry those tears up soon. No one likes a cry baby.

Happy New Year! (Favorite Posts and Stuff.)

Dear Readers-
It’s a brand new year. 2011 is gone. 2012 is here. To celebrate moving forward, I thought I would peer back into my archives and share with maybe the newbies what was most popular here at Potholes and Pantyhose.
Here are a few favorites from 2011-those with the most comments, or the most hits.
 

Remodeling my Master Bathroom was a pleasure and a success.
Biceps was out of town and I got to work recreating our boring bathroom. I loved the end result-as did Biceps. I think he mostly loved not having to do it himself….

Secondly topping the list was my DIY Spinning Composter:
This horrible picture of me has been repinned on Pinterest over 2K times. I wish I would have had the foresight to change out of my work clothes. I suppose it’s good for you to see me grubby and gross from time to time…

My Broken Mirror Art still gets a lot of action.
Biceps and I created this mirror from sections we no longer needed after our remodel. It still sits above our fireplace and still gets the oohs and aahs from newcomers.

My tutorial on Canning Jalapeno Pepper Jelly received more responses than I had anticipated.
The recipe is very simple-and if you don’t burn yourself on the hot steam from the canner-it’s also pretty painless.

I have no idea why, but this silly little post seemed to spark some conversation. My frizzy hair needed help, and I asked you for your input.
You have never failed, me dear readers and gave me tons of insight into the world of hair care.

My Pretty Paper Christmas trees not only got a lot of ooh’s and aah’s around the internet world, they received praise from family members and friends alike.
Turquoise and red have become a favorite of mine. Free and cheap are also favorites.

For fear of boring you, I’m ending with this post. My DIY Recycled and Cheap Rain Barrel.
This is a simple solution to gathering your roof water. The tutorial is rather simple, the process takes a few hours and you can go to bed at night knowing your water bill won’t be astronomical during the dry season.
 
I hope you’ve enjoyed a walk with me down memory lane. I know that I have enjoyed my time with you!
Have a great New Year-be safe, drink lots of water and don’t eat too much cake.
Happy New Year!

Linking up to: http://diyshowoff.com/2012/01/diy-2011-recap-party.html

DIY Spinning Composter-Video Only

I wrote a post a few weeks ago outlining how to make a DIY Spinning Composter. I had such a huge response from this particular project, that Biceps and I decided it needed a video to go along with it.

And here’s a little excerpt from that tutorial on my DIY Spinning Composter:

This year was my first year for a full-fledged garden. I consider it full-fledged because it produced enough to not only feed Biceps and I, but it also allowed me to dehydrate, freeze and give-away the excess.To be honest, I was just happy that anything sprouted from the earth.

I give props to the composted kitchen and yard waste that we added to the soil-this garden seemed to outperform many of my neighbors’ gardens.

And just in case you don’t want to go spend your hard earned dollars buying a fancy composter in excess of $100 bucks or more, I thought I would show you how to make your own using some recycled and some store bought materials for about $30 in a matter of hours.

If you’d like to see step by step instructions, along with photographs, here’s the link to my DIY Spinning Composter.