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.

(Here’s my video for my DIY Spinning Composter.)

Here’s what you’ll need for your very own composter (The store bought materials can all be found at Lowe’s):

Food Safe Barrel of some sort (I used a leftover crazy person’s 40ish gallon Y2K water barrel they had in their basement in preparation for the end of the world)
3″ ABS toilet flange (I used an Oatey brand for $3.60)
3″ PVC pipe (I bought a 10′ stick-that’s the smallest they had for $10)
3″ PVC cap ($.72)
(2) 2 x 6 x 10 pressure treated lumber (~10′ for $6.97) and pressure treated wood screws (about 20 or so)
(2) hinges with appropriate sized bolts and nuts-don’t use the screws in the package that comes with them (Gatehouse brand 3 1/2″ Butt/Mortise hinges for $2.78 each)
(1) window sash latch with appropriate sized bolts and nuts-don’t use the screws in the package that comes with them (Gatehouse brand for $3.59)
(1) galvanized pipe (I re-purposed a closet rod-1″ diameter and about 4′ length, but if you have to buy one, they are about $5-7)
(8) wood screws 1 1/2″ ish (I used leftovers found in my coffee can full of excess screw, but you may spend $.50)

Here are the tools you will need to complete the project:

Square
Skill Saw with wood blade
Drill with 5/16″ drill bit, hole saw slightly bigger than your galvanized pipe/closet rod
Fine grit sandpaper
Chop Saw
Old screen from window
Tins Snips to cut screen
Flat head & Phillips head screwdriver
Hammer

Let’s get started!

Determine which end is up for you and your barrel. On your “up” end, use your skill saw to cut out a lid in a semi-circle shape (half of the entire circle).

This is what the lid will look like when you are done cutting it out. Sand off any burrs.

Pre-drill the holes for the hinges and the latch. Sand off any burrs. Attach the hardware, using the bolts and nuts (bolts on the outside, nuts inside).

Attach the hole saw to your drill and measure halfway down on each side of your barrel, starting on either side of the lid. The holes should be drilled so that the closet rod will run parallel to the lid. Sand off any burrs.

Drill holes for your closet rod to go through. Insert the closet rod to make sure the barrel can be easily turned. If not, increase the diameter of the hole slightly.

On the bottom of your barrel, trace the 3″ opening for the toilet flange using a sharpee in the center. Cut out the circle with your skill saw and wood blade. Sand off any burrs.

Insert the toilet flange to the outside of the barrel and make sure it fits snugly.

Cut out enough screen to cover the bottom of the opening in the flange. Pre-drill holes in order to screw the flange to the barrel and the screen to the flange.

Remove the closet rod from the barrel and place the PVC pipe vertically in the barrel, fitting it over the toilet flange. Cut the 3″ PVC pipe to fit vertically inside of your barrel, leaving about 6″ headspace between the top of the pipe and the opening of the composter. Place the 3″ cap on top of the pipe.
Mark where the curtain rod will meet with the PVC pipe.

Using your drill with the 5/16″ bit, drill holes several inches apart in the PVC pipe. Using the hole saw, drill two holes in the PVC pipe for the curtain rod to go through.

 

Using the same 5/16″ drill bit, drill holes vertically in the barrel, about 2″ apart vertically and 6″ apart horizontally.

Cut two identical “legs” for the composter using your chop saw and the pressure treated wood. Begin by measuring from the side of the barrel to center, adding 1 foot to the measurement. For each “leg”, measure 2″ down from one of the cut ends, center the hole saw to cut a circle for the curtain rod to go through.

Cut four identical lengths of wood (mine were about 2′ each in length) to secure the legs to. Attach with the pressure treated wood screws as you see here. I got fancy and cut the corners off of the base pieces. You don’t have to, it doesn’t affect the functionality of the composter.

I added spacers in between the pressure treated wood and the barrel to keep the curtain rod in place. They were just bits of pvc pipe that fit around the curtain rod, cut to about 2″ in length.

Give it a spin and see how much fun making your own compost will be.
Begin collecting all of your kitchen scraps: veggie/fruit peels and scraps, egg shells, coffee filters & grounds, etc (no meat, eggs or dairy) and throw it all in your barrel with dried leaves, grass and yard waste with a ratio of 1 (kitchen waste) to 2 (yard waste). Turn the barrel once a week and keep it as moist as a damp sponge by adding water when needed. (I save old coffee, rinse/rain water, etc. to moisten up the compost).

It’s ready to be used in the garden when the compost smells like heavenly dirt and is black and crumbly. Your plants will thank you so much for this yummy concoction…

Arts & Crap Changes!

I’m back!
Sing it from the mountain tops! After 8 months of being gone from the blogging world, I am finally back up and running. I didn’t choose to be away, fate chose it for me. It was a rough loss for me back in January when my blog failed via the platform, Iweb.

If I could cut Iweb in two, I would.
Or at least pinky shear the programmer’s button up short sleeved shirts.

I had built the site myself in Iweb and for some reason, after a year of blogging with that platform, Iweb decided it had had enough. The ability to update my site, add posts, change anything, was a distant memory.

I pinched my pennies for several months and hired a web designer to build my site (correctly) for me. Once the framework was in place, I had the duties of importing all of my old posts-a task that required copy and pasting each bit of text, each picture, each title…you get the idea. I lost some of my “pretties”, but sacrifices had to be made.

I have a few exciting things to catch you up on from my eight months of absence. I’ll be expanding on each of these items over the next couple of months. But, I thought you’d like a bit of an overview to wet the ol appetite.

So, here are a few changes that have gone on since you last heard from me:

I planted my first full-fledged garden this year. The harvest included, but is not limited to: green beans, spinach, tomatoes, dill, basil, zucchini, yellow squash, potatoes, red and white onions, carrots and tons of peppers…
I’ll share with you some organic and natural ways to keep pests away from your garden, ways to improve the quality of your soil and cheap things you can use to stake up your plants.

I, with the help of Biceps, built a composter for my garden-one that spins ’round and round. It’s a lot of fun to watch it go “round and round”….and to watch it help my plants grow big and strong. I save all of the kitchen scraps and yard waste, throw it in the barrel and give it a push. I’ll teach you how to make your very own.

I also made two rain barrels to capture the water running off of our roofs. Did you know that 1″ of rain on an average sized roof (1500 sq ft) can equal 900 gallons of usable water? That’s a lot of water….

There’s plenty more where that came from, but no need to cram everything in. I’ll be sharing with you each of these tutorials with step-by-step instructions, along with pretty photos.

I am ecstatic to be back in the saddle again. The crafting saddle, that is.

Homemade Paper & Stationary Sets

I love writing thank you notes-real notes in my handwriting using a pen and a piece of paper.
Not an email, a texts or a tweets. A note that comes in an envelope with a stamp on it.

There’s only one thing better than a handwritten thank you note.

A handmade and handwritten thank you note.

This process takes less than an hour to do, plus dry time, and provides an impressive finished product. Let’s get started on making some fancy stationary, shall we?

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own stationary:

A picture frame (I made mine from scrap lumber)
Blender
Sponge
Window Screen as large as the frame
Recycled paper, construction paper, newspaper, etc
Dried Flowers (If desired)
Paper Towels and Hand towels
Envelopes
Staple Gun
Utility Knife
A plastic bin larger than the frame (I used my sink, instead)

Begin by stapling the screen to the backside of your picture frame. Make sure the screen is securely attached. Over-do it, I give you permission.

Tear the paper into pieces about 2″ or smaller. Fill your blender with the paper, but don’t compress the paper. Add water until the blender is about 2/3 full.

Press the ‘pulse’ button several times to get the mixture going. Then, switch to ‘puree’, until the mixture has almost a smoothie consistency. I did this process several times to create enough of the mixture for the amount of paper I wanted to make.

Fill your plastic bin or in my case, my sink, with the mixture, adding water until it is about 4″ deep. I added enough water to my sink until the consistency resembled more of a soup like texture.

Dip your frame into the mixture, with the top of the frame facing up. Pull the frame out of the water slowly, allowing it to drain. You can even rest the frame on your bin to allow it to drain longer.

Add your dried flowers to the topside of the paper at this point.

Lay out hand towels and place several paper towels on top of them.

Flip your frame over on top of the paper towels. Allow the paper to release itself from the screen slowly. Use a sponge to gently remove as much excess water that you can from the paper. Allow the paper to dry for several hours.

Once the paper is dry, tear it by hand to fit the size of envelopes that you have. Save any scraps to be used as name tags for the final product.

I made a stationary ‘set’ out of four pieces of the homemade paper with four envelopes. I then decorated the sets with scrap ribbon and ric-rac that I had on hand, adding buttons on a couple for a little extra ‘wow’ factor.

I used the scrap pieces of my homemade paper as name tags to accompany the sets.

My homemade stationary sets were a big hit with the family-or so they told me. I choose to believe them.

Snazzy Zipper Necklace

I delight in making Christmas gifts for family and friends.
Of course, there’s the stress out part when I’ve hot glued my knuckle for the tenth time and the present still isn’t finished. But, when the stars align and my present comes off without a hitch with no skin burned in the process-that’s when I can say, ‘Merry Christmas’!

It was difficult to wrap up this Fancy Zipper Necklace and place it underneath the tree.
But since it was so easy to do, I might just have to make one for myself.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this simple necklace:
Metal zippers-3-4 colors
Iron & Ironing board
24” ribbon
Hot glue gun
Scissors
Invisible Thread and needle (not pictured, because it’s invisible…)

Cut the stops from the ends of your zipper and remove the slider.

Iron the tape (fabric) on your zipper flat. Don’t iron the teeth-it scratches your iron and makes an awful sound. Not that I would know.

Make a loop around your pointer finger and place a 1-2” bead of hot glue on the end of the zipper tape (fabric). Begin rolling the tape in a circle, adding hot glue with each new loop.
Also, don’t lotion your hands for several days and then take close-up shots of them.

Your loop should look like this when finished-the teeth stair-stepping down as the loop grows.

Do this with each new color of zipper and choose how the zippers will be arranged on the necklace. I chose to make different sized zipper circles to add ‘visual variety’.
I just made ‘visual variety’ up. You have my permission to use it.

Add a bead of hot glue to attach one circle to the next.

Continue glueing until each circle is sufficiently attached to the next.

Here’s an optional step. My necklace recipient is a mother of many children, and I knew the necklace would be yanked on and possibly disrespected. Tsk, tsk. I sewed each circle to the next one using the invisible thread, just for added strength and kid-proofing.

After I had sufficiently reinforced the necklace, I chose the location where the ribbon would connect.

After cutting the ribbon in half, I used the invisible thread to attach it to the underside of my chosen zipper circles.

I implore you to try it on to make sure it looks cute.

My Snazzy Zipper Necklace did not disappoint me one bit. I hope the recipient likes it just as much. And if not, I may hint that I will take it off her hands. Heh heh.