A New Business Venture & Some Compost

Compost Pile & Garden Box of Potatoes. (June 12 2013)

Since I have been finding it down right impossible to find work since last September, I decided that I would re-start my own business. I already have a business license from my short-lived business in 2004 so all I need to do is change the business name and type with the State.  I am offering services for rental & foreclosure property clean-up as well as land clearing.  I have clearing the land of a neighbor of my aunt for the last several weeks with just a weed-whacker and a push mower since there is so much overgrowth not to mention all of the hazards hidden inside the grass.

I never really wanted to "own" a business after my last one failed, however that was entirely due to my poor management skills at the time. Right now, I don't think I really have a choice to do anything other than start my own business.  I made too much last year working for two and a half months for most companies to hire me.  Odd, I know, but its the truth.  I am an outdoor kind of guy and I prefer working with my hands.  Working indoors, I can do but I am not very happy about it.  I have plenty of retail experience since the family business as a kid was all retail and I worked for 8 years in retail before becoming a union carpenter.  Work for carpenters is picking up here in my area, although I really don't have the gas money to go from site-to-site hustling myself.  Although I live with my older sister, she is stretched as far as she can be without risking her own obligations.  Honestly, I don't like having to depend upon my family for such things, although I am incredibly grateful that I can if the need is there.  It kind of hurts my male ego.  I am definitely the kind to return the favor even  without expecting anything in return.  Given a chance, I would most certainly return to union carpentry, although unless something changes in the next five minutes I cannot rest my future on that.  So I started advertising my business and hopefully I can keep some much needed things like my truck, food, and fuel while something shake out.  If I can get enough business I will certainly go for my general contractor license so I can do remodels.  I have all the skills and the majority of the tools to do such work and most importantly, my current business has easily put it to work under its already stated mission statement.

Currently I have been clearning the overgrowth for a neighbor of my aunt who I will call Blonde.  I have been doing it for a bit of gas money so I could continue looking for work.  The job is... an incredible amount of work to say the least, but I have enjoyed it a bit.  The only thing I really have not enjoyed about it is running into snakes.  I hate snakes!  But not enough to chase me off since they are not poisonous.  Blonde owns about two acres of very overgrown and neglected land next door to my aunt's property.  The County has been telling her to clean-up her property or face some pretty hard fines and such.  The property is really nice and is begging to be used, but all she has done to it is store crap, more crap, and even more crap and let it get all overgrown with grass and stuff.  Even the house on the piece of property has turned to crap.  Even I would not remodel it, but roll a 55-gallon drum of fuel oil into the center of the house and set it aflame.  (No, I am not arsonist. It is just a statement of the condition of the house.)   The property is so overgrown her own horses didn't even want to venture over there.  Anyway, I have cleared a bit of the grass enough to go from the back of the property to the front and around the sides of the house.  It actually looks as if someone is taking care of the property.  It definitely has not been easy since I have to cut most of it down with a weed-whacker to first see if there isn't any crap hidden and then I can run a push mower through there.  It involves a lot of racking, hauling, and back & forth with the cutting implements just to get the grass to a 3-inch height.  It really is back breaking work.

My Mom helping to turn the pile. (June 22nd)

Speaking of raking, all of that grass isn't being left behind though.  I very much have an immediate use for it: compost pile.  Yes, this year's compost pile is bigger than ever.  No joke.  Right now it measures 6-feet wide by 15-feet long and stands about 7-feet tall.  Just last Saturday with the help of my Mom, it took us nearly two-hours to turn the whole damn thing.  I wish I had a bucket and a tractor to go with it but I don't.  I will have to add that to my wish list right next to chainsaw and woodchipper.  The funny thing is, I have enough to start a second pile with the grass that has yet to be harvested with Ms. Blonde's property.  I also have horse manure and wood chips available to be used, so I have at least one more pile to add for the summer.  Dear Lord, what did I get myself into. LOL!

Well, I have business to attend to so I will end this here for now.  Wish me luck!

Another Turning Day, Continued

Okay, so my Aunt’s pile is freshly turned & aerated.  It looks to have about another 1 to 1 ½ weeks till it is technically finished, barring any more heavy rains since I cannot really cover it.  That will be just in time for a garden project that my Aunt and a Friend of hers will be doing together.  Not to mention the one project I was have talking about earlier this year which is also a raised garden bed.  This project which be growing a variety of squash for a fall harvest, so I actually need to get on that sooner than later. Never enough time and resources. LOL!  Speaking of this specific project, I am going to do a mini-hugelkulture bed with some cottonwood trees that are around my Aunt’s property.  In combination with the fresh compost, I think it will make for some really large squash.  Something that I think she will get quite a kick out of.  Currently, she has several cottonwood trees that are too close to her property line and are in a very wet area. Regardless, they need to come down.  I am going to cut the smaller ones down, cut them into rounds, and place them in the garden bed.  I know that fresh cut logs could become a nitrogen-sink, but I can mitigate that with some horse manure, and place the compost soil on top of that.  Also, the cottonwood should help the garden soil from becoming too wet/saturated by groundwater and allows for proper drainage from rain water.  I am not sure how tall it will be just yet, but probably safe to bet around the 18-inch marker.  I might have to dig down into the soil a bit to make sure it does not exceed that height.   I will post some pictures when I get to building that project, so keep an eye out for it.

Another Turning Day

My Aunt and Mother have both told me with much excitement that her pile is steaming big time. With all of the passing showers we have had in the last few  days, hopefully it is not too saturated with water since I do not have a cover to put over it. To be  continued....

*EDIT* Continued at Another Turning Day, Continue

Ah, What The Horse Sh*t!

Turning the piles on the outside into the center. Grass & straw on the
left, horse manure & alfalfa hay on the right.

I have just returned from my Aunt's property where I turned her two compost piles into one massive one, again.  No, you read that correctly and now you are thinking, "Did you not just make her a new pile the other day?"  Yes, I did.  But now I have made it better: I have combined the two massive piles into one even more massive pile.  What is better than two piles? One massive one. LOL!

What a Bitch!

You heard me.  That huge compost pile I was talking about the other day... well I just turned it.  Damn, it was tiresome. Took me a good hour to turn it all with my forks, although very worth it.  I pulled off the plastic covering on it to see steam race towards the overcast sky.  You did not have to dig to feel the heat of the pile. It is an easily 150-degrees.  So I began to turn the outside inside -- new pile next to it, of course -- and inside to the outside.  Only had to add a tiny bit of water the pile, but otherwise it was fine.  In the center, it is so dark you could not tell the straw from the grass and weeds.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love composting? lol.

Another Pile Started

I spent the day with my Aunt mucking horse manure from one of her neighbor's barns.  Boy, was there some manure to harvest.  We are using it to start another pile next to her already large pile that we started a week or so ago. Sadly, I am fresh out of straw for the time being so I will be using shredded  cardboard and paper for my carbon. With that said, that is going to be a bitch to do.  Last year, the ill-informed voters of my beloved State voted out the State run liquor stores in-favor for every Tom, Dick, and Harry establishment with 10,000+ square feet to be able to sell it in their stores.  (Corporate greed, anyone?)

Ingenious Creek Irrigation

My mom watering the piles.

As I have stated before, my Aunt has a large piece of property that includes a creek pretty much cutting it in half.  Yesterday, we started two compost piles in her pasture area on the other side of the creek.  At the time, I did not have a solid idea on how to add water to the compost piles.  My mom who was helping me was grabbing a few buckets full of water to help throw on the piles.  After we have finished doing that, we were around the creek when she came up with the seed of a brilliant idea.  Before I get to that, I wanted to say that this creek is "running" about ten months out of a year with July and August being the driest. So naturally, if this idea panned out it could help my Aunt out a bit with her water bill. The Utilities bill is a bit different in the county compared to Tacoma.  The water bill is separate from power and gas.

New Compost Pile

Here is my fourth compost pile for the spring and should be ready by the middle of July. Quite excited, to tell the truth. The other piles will be done in the next thirty days at the latest. I still needed more grass and soon more straw. lol never ending need.

A Normal Day in Pacific Northwest

A lovely rainy morning
(Heading South from Federal Way) 

Man, what a lovely morning it is!  No, I am not being sarcastic.  It truly is a lovely morning with the rain falling and warm, albeit humid temperature.  Of course, you could say I am extra grateful and cheery because I am not working in it.  That is true, very true.  If I were working in the rain today, it would be a bitch.  It is just wet enough outside for the power tools to trip the GFCIs on the Spider Boxes. And if you are hold your cards just right, the power tool will even share some of its electricity with you.  Those are the best days! Sharing is caring, especially with electrified devices.

Anyway, driving south towards home was rather nice.  Traffic Northbound was completely fubar'd, but not so bad you could not get to work on time.  Idiots -- cough, out-of-staters -- panicking and freaking out that it is raining after all of those blissful warm and sunny days.  It happens just about every time it rains here after sunny weather.

Checked on my compost piles this morning.  One is cooking just ever so happily, but the other is not.  Not only is it not heating up very much, it has shrunk.  Now, the shrinking is not a bad thing, but in combination with no heat, it means I am going to have to add more nitrogen to the mix.  I was pretty sure my ratio was spot on, but maybe I carried the 1 when I should not have. Go figure.   I have six trash bins full of grass at my Aunt's place ready for pick-up. I will add them shortly, since this rain is only going to make the grass around her house and in her field grow even faster once it passes.

Harvesting Compost Material

My Aunt agreed to give me her grass clippings for my compostin gneeds, however, my Aunt has a large piece of property.  She has tackled mowing and clearing it every years by herself, however, she really does need help with it. Since I was benefitting from getting free compost material and I rather be outdoors than in, I decided that I would help her cut and maintain the "Back Fourty".  Besides, I look damn sexy with a farmer tan.  I mean, who doesn't!

Tis the Season For Composting!

I have began building one of my compost piles the other day from my lawn clippings. Of course, I have a proper ratio of nitrogen to carbon for quick composting, however, I did want to try this new compost starter that my mother showed to me at one of our favorite gardening stores. It is called

Dr. Earth Compost Starter and costs around $12 dollars. The gardening store I visit will sell only organically safe products and they often try out what they sell.  Another reason why I decided to give this a try is the simple fact that it is supposed to be human & pet safe instead of the chemical starters that are more than readily available.  From what I can tell, it is microbe-saturated sawdust. And so far, just after four days, it is already steaming a plenty which pleases me to no end.  Now for me, it has only sped up my compost by a matter of a week or two depending on the weather here.  Although probably not a big bump for some folks, it is a big bump for me since I use a lot of compost around my rather large yard.  I will report back good news or bad news about the product as I work with it a bit more.