Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!
I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.
We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.
To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!
Saturday, 10 July 2010
Peace and quiet
The sound will all start again on Monday, but then, ah THEN we will be laying geotextile down on the ground and then the noise will be NEW stone ( local!) and gravel ( local!) going down.
I can’t wait to have a lovely, weed free, level, tidy, bigger drive and yard. I loathed how bad the old stuff had become, it looked awful, but not being prepared to use weedkiller, once it got beyond hand weeding or raking, we were doomed. I couldn't let clients park on it, either!
And it wasn’t done very well, in the first place I think.
So, we are enjoying the respite from noise and dust, even though we asked for it! And we have cut the grass today by scythe and hand mower, to keep the noise level down so we can hear the skylarks singing in the sky overhead.
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Sitting in the dark
And then turning out the lights, to sit and enjoy the purring of the cats on our laps, in the warmth and the dark
and while watching the flickering flames, I saw wonderous things, castles and unicorns and dancers........
what do YOU see when you look in a fire?
Monday, 24 November 2008
Colours of Autumn
and generally having a " just being" moment...well as much as one can, along with 2 cats and 6 chickens, of course!
This last shot, a lovely moonrise....
(Just a note about my photos....dear friends, I do NOT know why all my photos are now huge! I am doing the same as I always have done, nothing has changed at my end BUT now the photos all come out BIG...and sorry but unless I resize every single one first before publishing them I can't seem to fix it......I am not trying to make you look at my pictues in huge detail, honestly! I shall ask Blogger why this is now happening to me and see what the reply is.....Annoyingly although they are huge, a bit is cropped off the sides so to see the whole photo you STILL need to click on it.......( bangs head on the table.....) )
Sunday, 28 September 2008
Sunday sounds and views
Also some beautiful lichen which is growing on a dead shrub...sadly I am going to have to remove the shrub but there is lots more of this growing elsewhere in the garden!
Later on I took a shot of the Guelder Rose (Viburnum Opulis and opulent it is, too!) near the pool, with the afternoon sun making it glow!
There are a lot of berries on all of the trees this year, my Mum used to say that meant it would be a hard winter, I don't know if thats right really but at least it means that the birds and animals have food to stock up on before the winter comes.
Finally , this is what it sounds like most of the time at Compost Mansions, this was taken over an hour of this Sunday morning. I started recording because I could hear the Buzzards making a flap, and then got more and more engrossed.
Notice..no cars, tractors or ANYTHING other than Buzzards, Jackdaws, Magpies, Crows, Blackbirds, Robins and various other birds.
We are blessed, I know......
Saturday, 5 July 2008
A walk around the pool in the rain
So I MADE myself take 10 mins and my camera, to go AND SEE.....
Its beautiful :-)
We had visitors today and as usual their reaction to the lovelyness we are surrounded by, reminded me I should really feel much more grateful to live where I do.
We ALL should make time, as the saying goes, to go and smell, not roses in this case but, the scent of damp meadow grass and Meadowsweet and Loosestrife and Scabious and Sweetpeas and a wildflower meadow.....
wonderful.....