Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing-L Digest, Vol 2, Issue 32

[Mary English (Mary.English]

>>> cohousing-l-request [at] cohousing.org 02/27/04 11:00 AM >>>
Send Cohousing-L mailing list submissions to
        cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
        http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
        cohousing-l-request [at] cohousing.org

You can reach the person managing the list at
        cohousing-l-owner [at] cohousing.org

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Cohousing-L digest..."


Today's Topics:

   1.  drum composter experience? (Jillian Downey)
   2.  1st Meeting - Davis Square Cohousing (Chris ScottHanson)
   3. Re:  drum composter experience? (Kay Argyle)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 17:29:10 -0500
From: Jillian Downey <jilliand [at] umich.edu>
Subject: [C-L]_ drum composter experience?
To: cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org
Message-ID: <p0602040abc642165e240@[141.211.86.196]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

Hi all,

The grounds committee at Great Oak cohousing is looking at getting a 
compost bin just for our common house dinner scraps (not to handle 
the whole community's compost - individual households have small bins 
that they use or share with others).

We did not want to have an open bin due to the smell and visuals of 
it, right in the center of the community on the common green. And 
I've only ever used the ones that are shaped like a large black 
upside-down cup that sits on the ground - they're hard to turn 
sufficiently and can get smelly.

So, I looked around at other styles of composters and I found a 
two-bin rotating drum composter that looks like it might work well 
and be easy for people to use - the one I found is at
<http://www.eco-gardening.com/docs/comp_compostwin.shtml>

So, I was wondering if others have used rotating drums? Do you find 
they work ok for continuous composting (ie when you add a bit every 
day until they're full and you need to let them finish processing)?

We've also thought about trying their model that is supposed to keep 
perking thru cold northern winters -
<http://www.eco-gardening.com/docs/comp_greenjohanna.shtml>
has anyone tried those?

thanks for any info,
-Jillian

---------------------------
Jillian Downey
Great Oak Cohousing
Ann Arbor, Michigan





------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 08:52:22 -0800
From: Chris ScottHanson <chris [at] cohousingresources.com>
Subject: [C-L]_ 1st Meeting - Davis Square Cohousing
To: Cohousing-l <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Cc: webmaster [at] cohousing.org, office [at] cohousing.org, cohousing [at] 
umich.edu
Message-ID:
        <5001D496-6945-11D8-9595-0003935AD560 [at] cohousingresources.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

First Meeting of interested persons - DAVIS SQUARE COHOUSING OPPORTUNITY
Project site is at Davis Square in Somerville, Mass.

March 13, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Cambridge Cohousing.  175 Richdale Ave, 
Cambridge

Tours before the meeting at 6:30 pm if you can manage.
See Cindy Carpenter when you get there regarding tours.


Chris ScottHanson

Cohousing Resources LLC & Ecodevelopment LLC
Ecovillages, Cohousing & Sustainable Communities
Development and Consulting for a Sustainable Future
    based on the Natural Power of Community

(206) 842-9160 office
(617) 344-8563 eFAX

email1:          Chris [at] CohousingResources.com
email2:          cscotthanson [at] mac.com

web site 1:      http://www.CohousingResources.com
web site 2:      http://www.EcoDevelopments.com



------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 10:17:50 -0700
From: "Kay Argyle" <argyle [at] mines.utah.edu>
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ drum composter experience?
To: "Developing cohousing - collaborative housing communities"
        <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Message-ID: <00d901c3fd55$a0f27e80$64e36e80 [at] mines.utah.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="iso-8859-1"

CompostTwin sounds like the same brand we have.  It stands behind our
common
house.  Scraps from common house meals and from some residents' kitchens
go
into it.

In our experience, it composts faster than a bin composter, although
certainly not as fast as their ads claim.  Do watch the video before
assembling it! -- in fact, watch an assembly step, do it, watch the next
step, do it.  Because we had a macho "I don't need directions" type
helping,
we had to take ours back apart and start over.

Some management things we have learned:  Whatever is under the frame
(dirt,
cement blocks ...) has to be absolutely level, or the frame twists,
especially when the drum is full, and the cogs skip.

Somebody has to take the responsibility of turning it the recommended
five
times a day, or it gets smelly.  After we put a pile of woodchips, and
later
a garbage can full of half-composted sawdust, next to it for people to
toss
some in when they put in kitchen scraps, the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio
improved, which also helped control smells and flies.

I made a wooden sign with the words "Load This Side" and hung it on
rings
from the front bar, so it can be slid back and forth, alternating sides.
That helped reduce the amount of fresh material being put into the side
we
were trying to finish.

Some small wheelbarrows will fit under it for unloading the compost, but
our
heavy-duty contractor wheelbarrow is considerably too tall.

Drawbacks:  Ours has gotten off its rollers repeatedly.  After a while
this
stripped out the cogs on the stand rollers.  A member got new ones, but
possibly didn't install them correctly -- the rollers are too close
together, and the drum doesn't fit.  None of the gardener/handyman types
has
had the time-energy-inclination to dissassemble the thing and fix the
problem, so it's been like that since last summer (? at least).

The buckles fastening the doors at the bottom are reasonably good
quality,
but (unless the company has changed the design since we bought ours)
_do_
install hinges at the top of the doors.  The doors on ours have two tabs
of
bent metal that fit into slots in the drum.  Since most users just flip
the
doors back when putting material in, instead of removing them, after a
while
the tabs break off

Kay
Wasatch Commons
Salt Lake City, Utah
argyle at  mines.utah.edu
*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired,
signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not
fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
-- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953



------------------------------

Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L



End of Cohousing-L Digest, Vol 2, Issue 32
******************************************
_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L