Step 1: Place nine straw or hay bales to form a brickwork pattern. You can use the bales like giant Lego blocks to build the walls of your bin. You can adjust the number of bales you use depending on how big you want the bin. This example uses nine. Select a cleared area of your garden. Place a set of six straw bales to form a square on the ground. Use the remaining three bales to build the back and sides of the bin up another level, making sure that they sit across the edges of the bales below to form a brickwork mosaic.

Step 2: Fill the hollow in the center of the bales with compostable material. If you are new to composting and unsure what materials can be used, call for a FREE Home Composting Guide, Email your request to info@ycsw.org or call 503.434.7445.

Step 3: Use the walls of the bin. When it is full allow the usual time for compost to break down (two to three months). You will notice that the actual bales have broken down considerably, having been exposed to the elements for some months now. So instead of removing the compost, you now cut and pull out the baling twine holding the bales together. Then mix the partially broken down bales of straw in with the compost in the center. Once this is done you can either spread it on your garden as a heavily composted mulch or let it compost down for another month or two before spreading as finished mulch. It is also possible to empty the compost bins and repeat the process. However, by the second time around the straw bales would have definitely come to the end of their lives as effective compost bin walls. Caution: Hay and straw bales are not accepted in the local recycling program for yard debris.

Source: The Urban Food Gardener

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