Project book · an afternoon

Build a compost bin

A three-sided cedar bin for yard waste and kitchen scraps. Two hours with a saw and a drill.

This fits in a car

About 71 lb of materials. Comfortably inside what a car carries (200 lb), so any shopper can take it.

Before you start

Wear safety glasses on the circular saw and keep both hands behind the blade. Cut on sawhorses, never on your knee.

What to buy — untick anything you have

Lumber

Fencing

10 Cedar fence picket, 6 ftThe cut station may cut them in half for you, which also makes them fit in a car.

Hardware

1 box of exterior screws, 1 5/8 in (1 lb)
1 roll of hardware cloth, 1/2 in mesh, 3 × 5 ftGoes under the pile to keep rodents from tunneling in.

Tools — already ticked off, since most people have them

Tools

It lands in the shopping form, where you can edit anything and say what you think each thing costs. Nothing is ordered until you send it.

How it goes · about an afternoon · beginner

Cut the two 2×4s into four 36 in posts and the pickets into 36 in slats.
Build the back: two posts laid flat, six slats screwed across them with a finger-width gap between for air.
Build the two sides the same way, then screw them to the back to make a three-sided box.
Screw two slats across the bottom of the front, leaving the top open so you can turn the pile with a fork.
Set it on level ground in part shade, lay the hardware cloth inside on the dirt, and start with a layer of twigs.

Something else

Feeding people instead? The recipe book works the same way — pick a meal, say how many, every ingredient lands on the list.