I was daydreaming about having my very own compost bins for months. My friends Bill and Meredith had a super set up with 3 bins – one for fresh material, one for almost finished material and one for the finished product. That’s exactly what I wanted but didn’t have the space for something that elaborate.

You may be asking yourself “What does this have to do with Valentine’s Day gifts?” When you think about Valentine’s Day gifts for women, chocolates, flowers and jewelry come to mind. Luckily, my husband knows me better than that.

The weather that February was especially mild and Joe said “Honey, let’s build the compost bin you’ve been dreaming about!”  This is the story of my favorite Valentine’s Day gift.

Joe asked me what dimensions I wanted the bins to be and what materials we need to use so I referenced a good CSU Extension Fact sheet on building your own compost bin. We drew a plan, drove down to Home Depot and picked up some beautiful fresh smelling western red cedar wood for the posts and sides.

Over the next few weekends, we created the most beautiful compost bins I have ever seen. I couldn’t wait to fill them with all of the leaves and garden debris that had collected over the winter.

Because it was February, there wasn’t a lot of “green” material in my pile but it didn’t matter to me. It was still beautiful. I took pictures of it and brought them to Master Gardener class the next week to show my friends. Everybody was very impressed with our masterpiece. And just when you think it couldn’t get any better, my friend Sherry offered me an endless supply of horse manure to help with the composting process. What more could any girl ask for? A handcrafted compost bin made with love by her husband and a girlfriend with horse poop. Life is good.  🙂