Who's scruffy-looking?

Yeah, I'm not going to get sick of Star Wars references in regards to my fully-operational compost station any time soon.

Here's where it is right now, on the back porch. So far, I like this spot. It gets some sun, but also some shade, and it's easy to run out there and drop stuff in it without putting on shoes or something.

Here's my current pile o' decomposing matter.

You can see there is some soil in there, just because one of the items is a dead plant that we planted. I don't know if you can see the potatoes, but the red down there are a couple of onions that I was really sad to see go. They were from the farmer's market and they were seriously some of the most delicious onions I've ever had. We just didn't use them quickly enough or store them properly or something. Oh well, guess we have to buy another bunch for like $1 or something. I love me some farmer's market.

I think I mentioned that this thing was a bit of a pain to put together. If I didn't, allow me to do so now. These are little plastic rivets that hold everything together. You put the main piece (the flat ring with a ridged post on it) in first, and the hammer the middle pin into it to expand it and hold everything together. It functions sort of like a molly bolt, if that makes sense.

here's what actually happens, though. You get the little pin mostly hammered in and then it bends and then it's going nowhere. Where's it going? Nowhere. It's a pain because I'd like the thing to be smooth, as intended. There just isn't much to be done about it. I can either leave these little posts sticking out, mocking me like lolling ABS tongues, or I can remove them and try again. There are some extra pins so I could maybe try to pull them out and replace them. I could also just go buts and use aluminum rivets and washers on the whole thing and make sure it will actually stay together long term without messing with any of this crap. What do you guys think? Leave it be, clip them off, attempt to replace, completely replace? I might just wait and see how they hold up. If the lame ones don't loosen, I can just snip the ends off and call it good.

This beast is on sale at Costco right now for $100. I've looked around online and the other sites where I've found it are charging $150-$200 for it, plus a ton of shipping. So if you think this seems like a good way to go (I haven't had it long enough to give a really good review yet) then I'd go get one from Costco. Yes, it's a pain to assemble, but that's maybe an hour of your life. Something I didn't try but maybe should've is putting a tiny dab of Vaseline on the pins to help them seat more easily. If someone gets this thing and tries that, please let me know how it works.

That's it for now. I'm going to strip the dead leaves off the branches I trimmed the other day and put them in here for some "brown" and hope that works out somehow. Thanks for reading!

Oh wait, before I go, here are some links to videos you might find helpful:

The Compospin

The Compospin is easy to assemble! (This isn't true)

Enjoy!