Oooh, I’m so tired tonight.  What a busy day, and tomorrow will be busy, and the next day, and then next few days after that…..

One of the things I accomplished today that’s worthy of commenting on (to me, anyway!) is purchasing a used tumble composter for my garden.  I haven’t written much about our garden, even though I’ve loved it and it’s been a great experience.  I very much want to expand it significantly for next year so that it will provide a serious amount of vegetables for our family, and realize that part of why our crops weren’t as successful as I would have liked this year is that the soil wasn’t strong enough. 

I decided that I’m going to need to be able to make our own compost in the amounts that we need (I’m certainly not going to pay retail for that!), and that a compost tumbler would be a very useful addition.  The way it works is that it keeps the clippings or plant matter in a contained area where the heat can build up, and there’s a handle on the side that allows it to be turned for aeration.  After as little as a couple of weeks, you can have a large load of compost ready for use.  It’s pretty simple, but very effective.  Since I currently have an informal compost pile (that currently has sprouted a bunch of watermelon seeds), I know how inefficient and time consuming it can be to wait for it to break down otherwise.  They only problem is, they’re hugely expensive to buy new (well, I consider over $500 expensive), and I’ve only one time before seen one advertised used and it got snapped up right away.

Last night I was browsing Craig’s List and saw this composter, and immediately I wanted to buy it.  But it was too late to call, and a part of me really didn’t want to try to squeeze something else into a day that was already jam packed – especially since I could see the seller was located 45 minutes away, and I knew it would be a significant amount of time to get there.  But the other part of me knew I better take the opportunity when I had it because I would end up regretting not taking action later on.

So we went late this afternoon, directly from our homeschooling monthly gathering.   We took out the front passener bench before we left in order to make space for it, but when I saw it, I was concerned that it wasn’t going to quite make it.  And the seller was even more concerned than me, but it was obviously meant to be for us to get it, because it fit, with some creative finagling.  After $100 changed hands, we were off to home.

When I got home, my 7 and 9 year olds were so eager to take it out that while I was on the phone (which of course was ringing before I even got into the house), they took everything out themselves and set it all up.  I have no idea how they did it, because it’s really bulky and not too light.  They were clearly highly motivated, though.  I overheard them tell their siblings that they rolled the tumbler part most of the way, and only lifted it to get over the fence and then to put it in place.  They feel very accomplished, and they should.  In any case, now we have a very useful new addition to our yard, that is going to get a lot of use! 

Avivah