Building Compost Heater V2

We receive a large load of horse manure mixed with wood shavings about once every four weeks from a local stable and the material is hot when it arrives at the farm. We are using this material to build version 2 of our compost heater. We encountered some problems with version 1 (see 11/24/08 post) and decided to redesign our concept. In V1 the compost was heavy and put a lot of pressure on the poly and we felt it might break though the plastic. We tried putting in some battens between the hoops and the poly to alieviate the pressure but they were hard to get into place. Meanwhile, the partially-finished pile cooled and froze so we decided to start over at our small, 32x13 heated hoophouse.


The basic plan is to build a pile along the side of the hoophouse and run 300' of 3/4" garden hose through the hot core of the pile and circulate hot water into hoophouse. We are now building the pile and will work out the plumbing details later. We first add an 8" layer of hot compost followed by a 2" layer of fresh chicken litter, mix it in a bit and water it in.

Since our water source is about 200' away and most everything is frozen, it is difficult to get a hose to the project. We have quite a bit of snow now so we're using that for a moisture source. After two or three layers we add more hose on top of the pile in the center. We have placed some 1x2 furring strips between the hoops and the compost pile.

The second picture shows the first few layers of the pile, about 3 feet high, and the hoses running through the pile. We have since added a second hose run and will add one more hose. We'll cover the pile with dry compost or dry leaves and cover the whole thing with a tarp; If we can keep the outside of the pile dry and insulated we should be able to force heat either into the ground or into the hoophouse.




Bucky comes out to the farm (We live a few miles away.) nearly every day. No matter how cold the temperature is, he spends most of his day trotting alongside the tractor, searching for mice (he eats them!), or curled up on his bed in the hoophouse. He is very protective of the farm perimeter and alerts us to every intruder. Yesterday we heard some loud barking and we saw two deer racing across the field in a foot of snow with our dog following behind. When the deer were off the farm, he turned and trotted back to the farm wearing a somewhat smug expression.

Blizzard watch for this afternoon so we better get things in order!

Vegetable Tubs in the Heated Hoophouse

These two pictures were taken in our small (13x32) heated hoophouse. We had a very late start in planting for the winter because our first fall CSA (19 members) kept us busy in the field covering crops and preparing for the winter. But now we are seeding every day but are still two weeks behind where we want to be.

We are attending a winter market on Saturday mornings at Inglenook Pantry in downtown Geneva. It's a small market in its second year, has five vendors, and a group of loyal customers who come to shop every week. Best of all, it's inside the restaurant and Connie and Mark Weaver make breakfast for the vendors. What a treat!

For now we are growing a few greens in pots for the market and the first picture shows some pots of radishes that were planted in December. They are growing very slowly but they ARE getting bigger! If they reach maturity, we should get about three bunches from each pot. Each week we start the quantity we think we can sell at the Saturday market. In about three weeks, as the temperatures start creeping higher we will begin moving the most cold-hardy pots to an unheated hoophouse.

The next picture shows some nice greens but, unfortunately, the farmer-in-charge forgot to put the tag in so we are not sure what they are. They taste good, though! Admittedly, it's a pretty small operation at this point but we need to go for quality and consistency before we try to expand production.

In addition to growing market vegetables we are starting herb pots, vegetables to be transplanted into the unheated houses and a few container peppers and tomatoes to sell at the spring market.

Yesterday we added a layer of hot compost to the big pile on the north side of the house and hope to finish it today when the snow stops coming down. We buried a hose inside the pile and plan to get hot water into the house and create a "hot zone" for tomatoes and pepper plants. Pictures should be posted in a day or two.

Last week we had some pretty heavy rain, about 8" over three days. In one of our fields we had standing water for several days. Amazingly the eggplant and broccoli seem to be still alive but tomatoes and peppers died within about 24 hours after the ground was saturated.

Peppers and tomatoes in some beds died 24 hours after the ground became saturated. It almost looked like we had had a frost as the tops wilted but next day the plants croaked. "Water wilt" seems to be the technical term.

Today is our CSA delivery and we are really going to be scraping to fill the boxes. Overall, due to a cold spring, germination problems and other issues, we have lost at least half of our harvest. At the Batavia, Illinois, farmers' market last week one vendor said, "I was worried about an early frost but not not. Everything is dead." Pretty much sums up the mood around here.

This week we should start to cover some of our summer crops with temporary hoophouses to help extend the season a bit. Eliot Coleman has an interesting design for a low-cost house that can be put up very quickly. We'll cover some of the winter crops later and we're planning a small fall CSA. Ultimately we hope to harvest all winter for our local market.