DIY Pallet and Wire Compost

Our very simple yet stable new garden compost areas, made from six old pallets and wire.

Need a place to put compost to use in the garden, but only have minimal materials? If you happen to have access to no-longer-used pallets, here’s a dead-simple guide (with pictures) to create two composting areas for your garden, made from pallets and wire (henceforth referred to as Pallet And Wire Composts, or PAWCs).

Note: This design can very easily be extended to creating more than two PAWCs. I wouldn’t suggest just creating one PAWC, however, as having more than one means you can fill one up, then fill the next one up while you use the compost from the first (now ready) PAWC, and repeat ad infinitum.

Choosing an area

Before we get right on to assembling these PAWCs, we need to choose a good spot. An area which is not too close to the house is a good first point to keep in mind, as many animals (especially various insects and spiders) will love the composting material, and places to hide or set up webs in the pallets. And if they’re close to the house, they might decide to wander over to the structure which always seems so warm and lit up during cold nights…

Next up is proximity to where you want to use the compost. This is not as much of an issue, but in general the less moving stuff around, the better (no point maximising your work for no good reason).

We chose to place our new PAWCs on the top of a slope, above and right next to our various raised garden beds for our vegetables, and near much of the rest of the garden. This way, we have relatively easy access to the compost practically anywhere we decide to use it.

The Ingredients

There’s very little to this recipe for PAWC creation.

• Six wooden pallets – absolutely don’t need to be new, but retaining at least some of their original structural stability is recommended. Depending on how many you want to create, you will need six pallets for two PAWCs (as in this guide). If you want to create a different number of PAWCs, you will need three and a half pallets for the first PAWC, and two and a half pallets for each additional PAWC.
• A length of wire – to join the pallets together. The wire should be a minimum width of 1.5mm.
• Wire cutters.
• A wood saw.
• Leather gloves to wear – recommended, especially if you’re worried about accidentally poking yourself with the ends of the wire.

That’s it. Already shaping up to be quite easy, right?

If you don’t have old pallets lying around, try asking your friends, or try asking your local hardware or farming stores. Some sell their pallets off for cheap, and others (like the one we got our pallets from) give them away free.

If you don’t have any of the rest of the required materials (wire cutter, wire, saw), also try asking your friends as a first step. Most people won’t mind lending this kind of stuff. If they do, just invite them around for an afternoon to bring the stuff (to watch over it if they’re that protective), and then share a drink after the project is completed in half an hour.

If you absolutely can’t find any of the items required for free, any good hardware store will sell them for reasonable prices. It’s probably a good idea to have these items if you’re into DIY projects such as this one, anyway.

The Method

One of the six pallets needs to be cut in half, in the same direction as the outside boards. Look through your pallets, and try to find one which doesn’t have a board right along the middle – this pallet will be the one you cut in half. If you don’t have a pallet which isn’t covering up its middle (we didn’t), it’s no issue. Simply choose any of the other pallets, preferably with a gap between the boards as close to the centre as possible.

Cut through the centre pieces of wood to create two halves of the pallet. These halves will be used for the front “doors” of the PAWCs, so that you don’t need to lean over a full-size pallet when the time comes to get the compost out for use.

You should now have five full-sized pallets, and two half-pallets. The next stages can be done by one person, but will be made significantly easier if you have someone else to help you hold the pallets in place.

Creating the first PAWC

Two pallets held upright, forming
the rear-right corner.

Hold a pallet upright with the slats horizontal, such that it will form the right wall. Hold another pallet upright, at a right angle to the first one, so that its edge is touching the rear edge of the first pallet – this will form the rear wall, and together, these are going to form the right-rear corner of the PAWC.

Wire around the two pallet edges.

Beginning at the highest point on the pallets possible, measure out and cut a length of wire such that it can be used to go around the touching edges of the pallets. Pull the wire through the gaps, then twist the wire tightly (at least five half-turns) so that the wire holds the pallets in place.

If there is any extra length of wire sticking out, either cut it off, or bend it back into the pallets.

Wire twisted, to hold the pallets together.

Wire all the way down the pallets.

After wiring the pallets together at the top, at a minimum you should wire the pallets together twice more, for three times total (top, middle, and bottom). If you want to wire the pallets together in more than three places, it can’t hurt.

Three pallets wired together.

The first two pallets are now wired together, forming the right side and the rear. Next up is to add the left side/wall.

Grab one of the other full-sized pallets, line it up with the rear pallet on the left side in the same manner as the right side pallet, and wire it together as per the previous steps.
By the end, you should now have both sides and the rear of the PAWC (made up of three full-sized pallets) completely wired together.

First PAWC completed!

Taking one of the half-pallets, stand it up so that the slats are horizontal, and the side which was not cut through is laying on the ground (i.e. the side which was cut through forms the top edge).

Slide the half-pallet in place, and wire it in on both sides (in three places per side, but two wired connections will probably be sufficient if you don’t have much wire, or simply don’t feel the need for wiring it in three places).

Congratulations! You have just completed your first PAWC.

The second (and any additional) PAWC(s)

The following steps will show you how to create the second PAWC, and can be extended into creating as many of these PAWCs as you like.

Next pallet placed for the rear wall.

Stand another pallet upright, and place it such that it continues the rear wall.

Wiring rear wall in place.

Wire the new pallet in place as per the previous instructions. There will now be two pallets connected to the middle pallet (which was originally the left-most wall on the previous PAWC).

New rear and left wall added.

Add another pallet to the PAWC to form the three main walls of the new PAWC. Wire it in place as per the previous instructions.

Additional PAWC completed!

As with the first PAWC, take one of the half-pallets, stand it up so that the slats are horizontal, and the side which was not cut through is laying on the ground.

Slide the half-pallet in place, and wire it in as per the previous instructions.

Congratulations! You have just completed yet another PAWC.

Possible changes

Given the absolute simplicity of this design, it’s completely up to you for if you want to make these PAWCs as-is, or change them in minor or substantial ways. For example, in future we’re thinking of hammering in some garden stakes to the front of the PAWCs. This is so that, instead of the front half-pallets being held in place by wire, they will be held in place by the stakes pressing them against the other pallets. In this way, the front half-pallets can slide up and out, granting easier access to the compost.

Or, you could take the basic idea of using pallets for compost and put them together in another way. You could join the pallets via hammer and nail, join the front half-pallet up via hinge so it acts as a swinging door, etc.

Something I like about simple designs such as this is their ability to be used as-is for ultimate simplicity, or altered to be as complicated as you like. Yet at the same time, using pallets for compost storage may simply be something you hadn’t thought of yet. So I hope, however you decide to use this PAWC recipe, it helps you in some small way, and you get some amazing compost out of them.

(Originally published, by me, on Hubpages.com - 24/03/2015)
 

Archery as Meditation

Just to preempt a few questions about this, within this article I will be discussing the use of solo target shooting as a form of mindfulness training through the act of focusing on one thing. Whether this applies to other forms of meditation, or to bow-hunting or competition archery, is another thing entirely. I'm not going to touch on those topics as I've only had experience with the former, and am under-qualified to hypothesize about the latter.

Due to a perceived lack of information on this particular topic, I had to search for a long time, and do a lot of experimentation for myself. So if there's anyone out there who is even remotely interested in this topic, then I hope this article will help them on their own journey in some way.

I have been an avid (if amateur) archer for at least 10 years now, and have been meditating for the last 5 years. A few years ago, I wondered if there could be any overlap between the two... And so I searched.

And searched.

And after quite a while, I couldn't seem to find anything substantial on the topic. I began to wonder if I was onto something new here, or if the reason there wasn't much out there on this specific topic was because it was just a downright silly idea.

Proof, finally!

One day, I came across this Paulo Coelho video:

Finally, some proof that I'm not going crazy. And on top of that, the man who beat me to the punch is someone who's known to be quite, well, wise.

For those of you who may not have been able to play the video, Paulo Coelho speaks briefly about archery as a form of meditation. He speaks about those moments during your shooting "where you are only one thing". Where just before you loose your arrow, you are "totally tense", "and all of a sudden, in the next fraction of a second, totally relaxed".

It's from this video that I was able to really start focusing on some key points during my shooting. The silent contemplation of the next shot, the smooth drawing back of the string, holding for a small amount of time (during which the various muscles engaged in archery are very tense), and finally, that moment after you release. That moment where in the blink of an eye, your position largely hasn't changed, but your whole body is suddenly relaxed. That moment when your arrow has been released from being one with you and your bow, and is off, flying towards the target.

A change in focus...

Instead of focusing on one thing while sitting or otherwise not moving - whether that be your breathing, a guided meditation recording, your posture, on achieving a completely quiet mind (which, incidentally, is my preferred method when practicing meditation while I'm out and about), or something else - your mind and body together are focused, completely, on acting as a single whole through the movements of archery.

... and a different approach

Something to note is that you can still find joy in archery in other, more usual ways. That is to say, you can still enjoy just going out for a shoot and getting great pleasure from seeing how high you can score per X amount of arrows. Perhaps you achieve greater enjoyment from seeing how fast you can shoot accurately. Or maybe you enjoy the act of archery in some other way entirely. That doesn’t have to change at all, and indeed I still often go out for a shoot purely to practice, keep up my skills and get enjoyment from the shooting in and of itself.

But when you go out to use your archery as a session for meditation, you approach the upcoming session in a completely different manner.

To draw a parallel, I used to have a favourite spot at university (when I was still a student) for both eating lunch, and meditating. It was this quiet little spot, by a small waterfall which occurred in the course of the university’s moat. The area was covered by an old willow, and ducks would often come by to hang out. This was a rare spot to find, especially given the university was located in a major city, and even more so considering how few of the other students had discovered the area.

When I went there for lunch, I went there to enjoy the old tree and surrounding flora, the wildlife that frequented the area, the quiet solemnity of this almost magical spot, and of course, the deliciousness of whatever it was I had to eat that day.

But when I went there for a session of meditation, I approached it completely differently. Right from when I left my place of residence, I had put myself in a state of quiet contemplation, and walked there calmly. Once I was there, perhaps I took another quiet moment to appreciate how beautiful this spot is, but then I found my position and began meditating.

So it must be the same with archery. If you are serious about using it as another tool for meditation (and it is just another tool or method, it need not be your only form of meditation), you’ll quickly get over the novelty of the idea, and adjust your way of thinking to the way you would regularly think about meditation. That is: With a calm, quiet mind, focusing purely on the movements and acts of archery... and nothing else.

To re-iterate: Unlike your usual archery sessions, you won’t be caring about how well you’re shooting (or how badly). You’re just focusing on the movements and acts of shooting itself. And after each shot, remember to remain still (physically and mentally), and take a moment for contemplation before you reach for the next arrow.

William Blake, and grains of sand

As Paulo Coelho alludes to in the video linked above, the instant after each shot really can be extraordinary, once you get yourself up to this level of using archery as meditation. The whole quote in the video was:

"William Blake once said, 'You can see the universe in a grain of sand'. He was totally right.

He said, 'You can see eternity in a flower'. He was totally right.

When you can see everything, in one thing only, you really understand the miracle of life."

I believe that it's possible to achieve this state of mind within each and every arrow loosed from your bow.

Some closing words

To any of you out there who may start attempting this method of meditation, I wish you good luck. I found it interesting, and a little tricky to get my head around viewing each of these sessions as a “meditation session”, but once I got there it was truly rewarding. Meditation, and quiet, contemplative, archery, as one – for the soul, what could be better?

If you have any information (from yourself, or from other authors) to share about this topic, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

(Originally published, by me, on Hubpages.com - 20/1/2015)