With spring fast approaching, two needs recently became
apparent. We needed to increase our sheltered growing space as well as our soil
building capacities. To accomplish this, we created several designs for
increasing our growing abilities, and in the end, we decided to build an
integrated system.

Currently, we have a worm bin and three bins for compost.
We built the new system in the middle of the garden and it will serve as the fourth
stage of composting. From this bin, we will sift the compost and create our
soil mixes. Because of its placement, it is ideal for distributing the soil and
seedlings throughout the garden.

Twenty-one straw bales were used for the walls, and we used
onsite scrap lumber for the frame of the cover. The cover is plastic, and we
plan on upgrading it with windows from the local recycle center. The growing
space is separated from the compost bin by a wall of straw bales.

To integrate the two spaces we cut sections of rain gutter,
which was onsite from our water catchment project, and put them through the
straw bale wall. This allows the solar gain from the cold frame to heat up the
compost pile during the day, and it encourages the compost pile to release some
of its heat into the cold frame during the night.

We have extended our growing season, soil building capacity,
and when the system starts to decompose the straw will make an excellent top
dressing throughout the garden. The cold frame and compost bin are also well insulated
by the straw bales.