makeMIsustainable

Work with me

Ann Arbor, Michigan · Field-tested yard systems

Systems that work with the yard you already have.

Compost, water, food and soil, built in my own yard first and written up honestly — failures included. Then fitted to yours, as it stands. No regrading, no tearing out, no five-figure quote.

Browse the systems
How working together goes
How the yard’s systems feed each other Kitchen scraps go to the hot composter, and its compost goes to the beds. Cleared buckthorn becomes biochar, which is charged and goes into the composter. Water from the aquaponics tank charges the biochar and makes worm tea for the beds. The nettle patch makes liquid feed for the beds. The beds feed the kitchen. scraps charged char wood fish water compost feed worm tea harvest Kitchen Hotcomposter Biochar Buckthorn Aquaponics Nettlepatch The beds
Nothing here works alone: each system runs on what another one throws away.
130°F
The hot composter on day five of its first load
6.3″
Summer water shortfall in Ann Arbor, June to August
5
Systems built and on the record in this yard
2
First attempts that failed — and are written up

The problem

Most yard projects start by fighting the yard.

The usual answer to a shady lot, a wet corner or a slope is to change the site: regrade it, take the trees down, bring in the machines. That is where the tens-of-thousands quotes come from, and why so many awkward yards never get touched.

The other way is to pick systems that suit the place as it stands: a composter that is happy in part shade, a rain garden where the water already goes, peppers that hang where there is no ground to dig. Small, cheap, fixable — and running on things the household already throws away.

The menu

Running in my yard

The whole menu, including what didn’t work

  • Soil & fertility

    Insulated hot composter

    A sealed, insulated bin with an air core down the middle. Hot compost from kitchen scraps and leaves in a few square feet, and it keeps going after an open heap has frozen.

    About $230 for the bin

    Details

  • Soil & fertility

    Biochar, made and charged

    Woody waste — prunings, cleared buckthorn — turned into char, then soaked in nitrogen until it feeds the soil instead of robbing it.

    About $45 for a charging tote; the wood is waste you already have

    Details

  • Food

    IBC aquaponics

    Fish and a grow bed on one pump, built from a reused IBC tote. A lot of food per square foot, and its water feeds half the other systems here.

    Roughly $300–650, mostly the pump, media and fish

    Details

How it works

From a walk round my yard to a system in yours

Browse the menu

Every system shows what it costs, the space and the time it takes, and how it actually did here. Add the ones you like to your list.

See them running

Come and look at the real thing in my yard, by appointment, before you decide on anything.

Fit them to your place

I walk your yard, we pick what suits it as it is, and I build it with you or for you.

The record

Failures included.

Every system carries a label for what happened when I built it. The failures stay on the list, because you should know how something does on a Michigan lot before you pay for it.

The principles behind it

  1. Aug 2026Hot composter130°F by day five. Back to 125°F a day after recharging.Works here
  2. Aug 2026BiocharMade, crushed, and charged in a tote with urine and fish water.Works here
  3. Aug 2026Nettle fermentFirst batch floated and molded. The second, weighted under, worked.Partly worked
  4. Aug 2026Banana peel teaSame failure, same fix: a weight on top.Partly worked
  5. Jun 2026IBC aquaponicsA rough start with the fingerlings. Stable since June.Works here

Journal

Notes from the yard

All notes

The first notes are on their way.

Got a yard nobody wants to touch?

Shade, a slope, a wet corner, a layout that makes every contractor wince. The awkward ones are the interesting ones — and the answer is rarely to start over.

Tell me about your yard