#WeekendCoffeeShare – Tackling Backyard Project

Published on by Yinglan

Good morning! Welcome to our second #WeekendCoffeeShare of 2023! Come, sit, and don’t forget to grab something warm to drink.

Oh man! What. A. Week!

If anything, this week was harder than last. I think the hardest part about this week was having to monitor 3 inboxes for 2 days in a row at work (mine along with 2 other inboxes). I hardly got anything done because the emails just kept piling in. After putting in some long hours for 4 days, my manager told me to get off early on Friday. Though there was still a ton of work to be done, I was glad to be off early because frankly, I can use a break from work.

Fortunately, this weekend is a long one since Monday is a holiday.

Credit: P. Allen Smith

I decided to tackle a project in the backyard after work on Friday. After raining earlier in the week, the snow is almost completely gone in the backyard, exposing the piles of damp leaves on the ground. I’ll have to wait to clean those up because most of those leaves are still frozen to the ground. The project I’m talking about is drilling holes in my compost bins to allow for better air circulation.

My compost piles are in 2 20-gallon plastic garbage cans and I discovered it’s gone anaerobic due to poor air circulation. I watched a few YouTube videos before deciding to try this method but what those videos failed to tell me was I must drill holes in the cans, otherwise, the decomposition can become anaerobic. When a compost pile becomes anaerobic, it stinks to high heavens.

After retrieving my mom’s electric drill from my uncle’s place next door, I went to work. I wouldn’t call myself handy but I was and am always curious about working with power tools. I took a shop class in high school for elective credit and got to work with power saws and other cool power tools. “Always drill a pilot hole,” was just about the only thing I remembered.

So I started with a small drill bit – 5/32 – before upping to a 5/16, beginning from the top of the can. When I began drilling near the bottom of the can, water began squirting out like I just drilled through a pipe, followed by that smell. Remember I mentioned it’s gone anaerobic? Yeah, it’s that smell. I can’t describe it. It’s like a combination of rotten eggs and garbage.

After nearly an hour, I finally finished. Hopefully, as the water evaporates in the incoming days and with better air circulation, the decomposition will reverse back to aerobic.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you I went to my braces appointment this week and found out one of my tooth is loose. They immediately removed the bracket so now, that tooth is sore, loose, but free. I’d imagine it will at least take a week or two to heal so I can use it again.

Finally, I would say I’m thankful there’s another storm coming in the upcoming days. It will allow me to stay home to continue my Quickbooks advanced certification course, which I’m now 60% completed. There are 3 sections left. Hopefully, I can finish those soon so I can take the exam.

#weekendcoffeeshare is hosted by Natalie of Natalie the Explorer. I appreciate you stopping by and hope to see you back here next weekend.

25 thoughts on “#WeekendCoffeeShare – Tackling Backyard Project”

      1. Really? I did like the one time I had one of those ones that you turn on a wheel type of thing. The problem with that was nasty water poured out sometimes and its above the ground so it splashes. I just used to throw all the scraps in a pile and just leave it. I figured that was better than throwing it out and I’m sure it fed some creatures too. Now I’m in a compact neighborhood and can’t really do that.

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    1. I went and drilled a few more holes at the the bottom of the cans just now and turned the whole thing. It does work as long as there are holes and you don’t let water pool at the bottom. I also used two bricks to elevate the garbage can to allow for drainage.

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  3. Good luck composting. I used to have piles that I would turn, but I wasn’t a super awesome composter. Congrats on your Quickbooks work. You’re almost there! Yay! I tried signing into the new Quicken program I purchased online. Every time I signed it, it would tell me I had the wrong credentials. I’d change the password. It would change successfully, then I couldn’t sign in – again. I canceled the program after an exhausting 5 hours. So good for you – Quick Books is harder than Quicken – maybe not to sign on to, though!

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    1. I’ve never used Quicken and I’ve always used QuickBooks at my previous employments and was the only program I was taught to use at school. My current work uses FinancialForce, a program made by Microsoft. Between that and QuickBooks, I find QuickBooks to be about 10 times easier.

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  5. I haven’t tried creating my own compost bins, but a number of years ago I had a nice worm compost set up. It had an earthy smell that wasn’t unpleasant. It was a bit of work and none of my family was interested in helping with it so I don’t currently have it running.
    Nice post, thanks for sharing.

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  6. If you want to get the compost back on track faster, purchase a bag of dry Bokashi Bran add some and stir everything. Then you keep adding a couple tablespoons every time you add something to the compost.
    Or start a new bokashi compost from scratch. Bokashi is the fastest way to compost. Good luck with your garden. It’s always so exciting with a new season on the way 🙂 What are you going to grow this year?

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    1. That’s interesting! You piqued my curiosity, Maria. I went online and searched about Bokashi. It does sound like a good method if I haven’t drilled all those holes. According to Google, Bokashi is an anaerobic decomposition. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to be a little more patient.
      I’m focusing on growing more leafy greens this year as the prices of leafy greens has significantly increased in the past few months. What about you?

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      1. Leafy greens are wonderful. I’m planning on growing a variety of ;easy greens at my balcony, along with some tomatoes. At my garden plot I’m going to plant; carrots, beets, zucchini, pumpkin, Jerusalem artichoke, strawberries, peas, and beans. I already have garlic in the ground, chive, some Jerusalem artichokes, rhubarb, and some different berry bushes.

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  7. I have an extra day off this weekend too, yay for us. The trashcan is a good idea for a compost bin. We’ve thought about starting a compost but just haven’t done it. It was interesting reading about how yours is doing & the remedies. We’ve also been interested in growing worms for the garden. We’ve done beekeeping for pollination & for the honey but right now beehives are not allowed within the city limits where we currently live. #Weekendcoffeeshare

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    1. I’m interested in vermicomposting, too but my composting area don’t have access to the earth and I didn’t want to dump the worms into the bin. I’d worry about them.

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    1. I wish I’ve installed rain barrels too as we’ve getting so much rain and snow. Unfortunately I don’t have the physical capacity to install such thing and don’t have anyone to help me. I hope you get your rain barrels. 😊

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