Full Turning of 3-Bin Compost Pile - October 2024

It was just 12 days ago that I posted a Fall 2024 update on our compost bins.  In that post, I showed the decomposition and compaction that had occurred over this season with all three bins just about leveling-out.  The 'finished bin' was spilling material out and the 'hold' bin was (surprisingly) decomposing despite not being properly mixed.

#14 on my 2024 to-do list was to 'keep going on compost'.  And, over the past few months, we'd *mostly* done that.  We were certainly ADDING to the bins, but when I did my September check-in on my list, I marked this one as 'incomplete' because I had NOT (yet) turned the bins over for the season. 

That changed this past weekend, when I went to work on all three bins plus our tumbler.  

I started by looking at the tumbler - where I found BLACK GOLD.  I've emptied this tumbler each year after getting that lovely loam-y black gold.  This year is no different.  Below are a few photos showing the output of the tumbler - this compost is light, odor-free and clumps-up JUST RIGHT.  I pulled out buckets of compost and filled my wheel barrow.  See below for the tumbler material:

Then....I went after the three bin setup.  The first step is getting out the 'mostly finished' material from the right bin and put it into the tumbler to finish.  

Here, below is the starting point of the three bins:

The composted material from the bin on the right (the finished bin) was spilling out around the bottom.  Below is a closer-look of this finished material:

I emptied the first bin - putting the most-finished material into the tumbler.  And the rest of the stuff into the wheel barrows - see below.  Once I got this bin emptied, I planned on layering this in with the material from the middle bin. 

But, before I could fill this right bin, I decided to cut down some cedar planks to close-up the bottom of the bin and keep the compost 'tucked in' a little bit more.  See below for the 3 layers of cedar plans that I zip-tied to the frame. I had to leave room for the passive aeration pipes.  The next couple of photos show this bin before and during the filling. 

Once those planks were in place, I filled the right bin with a mix of the other two bins and some of the remaining compost from this right bin.  See below for the bin full along with the middle bin emptied. 

I kept going by empty'ing the left bin and mixing it with the balance of the material.  

When I was done, I put the frames back together and now have a fully-piled-up right bin.  A 1/3rd-full middle bin and a completely empty left bin.  Ready for fall leaves and pumpkins and kitchen scraps all-winter-long.

Below is a look at the current state of the bins - after a FULL turn.  

I can now mark this item 'complete' on my 2024 list.