Photos here, and I’ll update periodically as well. http://coppermine.azxuredawn.com/thumbnails-68.html
The photos are captioned 
This will be a multi-part post, I think, as the weeks go by.
Over the past week I have used a couple of different bins (starting with a bucket, realizing that just wont work, moving up to a storage bin, and today a 32 gallon trash bin), done some research, and started a compost bin. My city is very big on “that can’t be there” so it had to be something to blend in, and I wasn’t up to spending hundreds on a bin. So far I haven’t heard from the HOA or city about my other bins, my rain collector or the kids toys (which are also on the no-no list).
We picked up a Hefty trash bin today from Home Depot. We already have trash bins on the side of our home (ok, on the other side, shhh) so I figure it should be ok. I mean, our HOA hasn’t bitched about the other bins yet. Oh hey, on Sunday we were doing some garage cleaning, and my dad was doing some yardwork, and I had the ingenious of putting some of our extra roof shingles down for the trash bins to sit on. Go me!
[img]http://coppermine.azxuredawn.com/albums/101_PANA/normal_P1010152.JPG[/img]
This is before the holes were drilled but after they were marked. As you can see we went with a standard “5″ die pattern. Each corner hole is about ~6 inches apart (it’s the width of my thumb to pinky when held apart – whoah dude!) and then one in the center. It also makes a neat spiral pattern around the bin.
[img]http://coppermine.azxuredawn.com/albums/101_PANA/normal_P1010151.JPG[/img]
OK, bottom of the compost bin. We picked up a Hefty Brute 32 gallon trash bin and drilled holes all over it.
[img]http://coppermine.azxuredawn.com/albums/101_PANA/normal_P1010160.JPG[/img]
The beginning of my compost. This is kitchen scraps and newspaper. My compost was smelling kind of like vinegar, which is apparently bad and means I don’t have enough “brown” stuff, hence the paper. I suspect it’ll take me a while to get a good, non-stinky balance, since most of what I had planned to have in there was food scraps. You can also see the sun shining through my holes
We opted to do this instead of spending 80+ dollars plus shipping on a premade compost bin. I spent hours last night pouring over compost sites and shops, and most of the cheaper ones looked like plain round bins with lots of holes. So we have a plain round bin with lots of holes! It allows for drainage, lets the bugs in and out, and we can bungee the lid down and just roll it around to mix it once a week.
[img]http://coppermine.azxuredawn.com/albums/101_PANA/normal_P1010168.JPG[/img]
Michael testing the bungee theory.
[img]http://coppermine.azxuredawn.com/albums/101_PANA/normal_P1010161.JPG[/img]
not compost related, but this is my water collector. Since I became less of a dumbass and stopped dumping the damn thing (one rain overflowed it!) I’ve watered my strawberry plant, orange plant/tree, lemon plant/tree and aloe with only reclaimed rainwater, which is way more satisfying than one may think!
[img]http://coppermine.azxuredawn.com/albums/101_PANA/normal_P1010165.JPG[/img]
I am transplanting this tomorrow to three much larger pots. IIRC, one is an orange, one is a lemon and Malachai says one is an apple, but I am pretty sure it’s two orange/one lemon. I guess we’ll find out in a decade or so! We don’t have the climate for apple trees though 
