Compost

The Mark 2B model.

Since the large compost pile is frozen over and hard to move around with the blade on the skidsteer we resurrected the tire composter to handle the winters compost supply. Jo-Ann grinds all the compost material until it looks, well, like ground up processed food, like, well yes, that stuff. They idea is that it will break down a whole lot faster.

The tire composter is made of logging truck tires that have the sidewalls cut out. The top bulge is a small truck tire that has been turned inside out. The lid is made from a discarded plastic garbage can. We can add more rings to increase the volume but it probably won't be necessary. We keep dirt in the shop so that it doesn't freeze and put that between layers of ground up material.

The tires sit on top of a solid pallet so come spring, I can pick the whole thing up and move it over to the re-tired garden.

Of course not a lot of composting is going to happen at sub zero temperatures. I am having a look at how composting toilets work and thinking about building an inside composter for winter months.

According to the weather forcast were enjoying sunny weather today. According to the view out our kitchen window were enjoying a blizzard. Time to plug in the skidsteer. Today looks like a great on for inside projects. Like getting the emergency lighting project lit up.

This is the generator panel. The two breakers on the left feed the breaker bus. One breaker is fed from the House panel, the other from the generator. They are mechanically interlocked. Only one or the other power source can feed the circuits coming from this panel. This setup also ensures that the generator circuits are isolated from the Hydro lines. We don't want generator power being backfed through the transformers to a lineman working to get the power restored. It has happened before with jury rigged emergency systems. Some brainiac actually wired the generator directly to his house panel mains with predictable and disastrous results.

Comments

Denise E said…
Do you ever sit still?
Art Blomquist said…
I do, honest, but who wants to hear about me sitting still? Actually I am practicing meditation - and come to think of it, as you might expect - it's not the easiest thing for a type A personality.

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