I was told by my Soil Food Web Mentor Wes, who was assigned to help me with the Microscope and Compost part of the Consultant program, to start gathering compost materials. He gave me some guidelines and answered questions I had about gathering said materials as well. Since 60% of the compost piles I will be making is comprised of carbon material such as woodchips I started collecting them first.
Our neighbor had some apple trees cut down and mulched about two months ago. At the time he told us that the neighbor bought the chips for a 1000 USD and that we couldn't get any. But alas, he had some remaining left over woodchips and said I could get the remaining! There was a nice pile, about 50 dry gallons worth, and seems to be about the right amount for 2 separate compost piles. These woodchips were full of life as well!
The neighbor even helped transport the woodchips with a vehicle of his on site to a fence line where I was able to more easily transport the woodchips home.
It has rained a lot since this mulch was created and was exposed to a lot of moisture. I was concerned about the moisture but there was no bad smells or even terpene like smells which is good! I will have to turn these piles woodchips to encourage aerobic organisms while storing them for the upcoming compost piles. I might even spread them out on a tarp to help dry out each day.
I also had to build my thermophilic compost bins as well, especially since these bins will be quite useful for storing the said woodchips as I gather materials.
Using some plastic pallets I acquired from craigslist, 1/4 inch holed metal cloth(wire fence), 5' foot tall metal cloth wire with 4inch holes, staple gun and bungies I built 3 thermophilic compost bins.
Today will be a rainy day, and hopefully one of the last for the growing year, here in Eugene, Oregon. As a result I will need to cover these bins with a tarp to avoid any unneeded moisture being added to the woodchips.
Also, it was pretty cool how sticky these wood chips were as very little woodchips spilled out the sides of the bin that has big openings.
Now I need to source good Chicken Manure or manure in general. 10% or so manure will be used as a High Nitrogen source. I feel safe using chicken manure since livestock like horses or cows run the risk of de-wormers in their stools.