Composting with the HOTBIN at our holiday home

For years our chickens kept the kitchen waste down. But keeping chickens responsibly is no longer possible here: the fox dares to take them even in broad daylight. So we now choose a method that works all year round, stays odour-free and asks nothing when nobody is around — a hot composter.

The result goes straight back to the vegetable garden and the borders. That keeps the cycle closed within ArdenNest, and your children see exactly what happens to the waste.

The HOTBIN is an insulated composter that reaches 40 to 60 °C without electricity. That lets it compost up to 32 times faster than an ordinary heap — the first compost is ready after 30 to 90 days.

• Add. vegetable, fruit and garden waste goes in every few days.
• Mix. together with wood chips and some cardboard for air and the right moisture balance.
• Let it heat up. the insulation holds the warmth, the micro-organisms do the rest.
• Harvest. after 30 to 90 days you take rich compost out through the hatch at the bottom.

Here composting becomes an experience, not a hidden bin. At the back of the composter a large information board explains everything. That way you gradually learn to compost yourself.

• Add chips and wood yourself. material is ready next to the bin — children love to help.
• Read the board. at a glance you see what may and may not go into the bin.
• Take a bag of compost. for the children we provide little bags of compost to take home, for their own little vegetable garden.

We chose the HOTBIN through our partner website. On their website you can also learn a lot about composting — whether you live in an apartment or have a garden.

We first saw the HOTBIN in action at the weekly market at De Pret, where Annelies shows how this system works every Saturday morning. She won us over straight away.

Read on

• Discover the holiday home and the 2-hectare garden
• What you can do around Gedinne
• Stories and updates from ArdenNest
• Questions about your stay? Get in touch