I "harvested" my compost today from one side of my Mantis Compost-Twin. It looked about half full, way less volume than I started out with. I dumped out two small wheelbarrow loads, and now it does not look like there's much left in it at all. Cranking it is ridiculously easy now, so that confirms there is not much left. I had been daydreaming about what all I'd do with my compost when the first batch got done. I've gotten a jolt of reality, I guess. Where I was thinking of putting inches of compost on the first flower bed that I worked on, the reality was I put a few shovelfuls sprinkled here and there, and that was all I had in the small garden wheelbarrow. I'm not giving up on composting or anything like that. But at this rate, it will take me a decade or two to do much to my flower beds. There is a local botanical garden which offers leaf compost loaded into your truck for a donation. I guess I need to explore that possibility. Sadder but wiser Jim

dalton thanks for the pics. I have been talking to my husband about making a bin. When I saw your pallets I knew that was the bin for me. Maybe because I can get the pallets free and it does not look hard to do. Swanz that is a very nice bin my hats off to you. I tried to do that once and my daughter just laughed at the finished product and my family threw it out. Oh well so much for building things.

I shouldn't split hairs but an anaerobic pile can be hot. Or more precisely, a hot pile can run itself out of air and be hot and stinky. Just make a pile with too many fresh grass clippings and you'll see what I mean. Sort of a special case though, not suggesting a small pile or tumbler that has gone anaerobic will always be hot. Usually not, at least for very long. Just for kicks I will also include here the bizarre case of the Bridgeton Landfill in St. Louis, which has undergone a 'runaway anaerobic thermal decomposition' which the state regulators prefer to call an 'underground smoldering event' and the media likes to call a 'fire'. It is not a fire, but more like a very hot compost pile, without air. Runs about 200-300F and makes the most bizarre God-awful stink. I suspect there are some purely chemical reactions going on down there at those temperatures too. I mention it here only for the wow factor, not to suggest it has anything to do with a home compost pile. It would not really be possible for this type of thing to happen anywhere other than a landfill. It has happened at several landfills though. Ironically they think the root cause is pulling too much of a vacuum on the landfill gas collection system, to control odors, which pulled air from the surface down into the trash, creating essentially a huge hot compost pile, which then went anaerobic. It was able to sustain itself due to the excellent heat insulation provided by the earth, allowing the high temperatures to persist. This nightmare is one reason to minimize our use of landfills. Republic has spent over $100M on it over the last 5 years. Not even exaggerating. Speaking of the thread title...dark liquid? About 200,000 gallons per DAY of leachate.

"Feed store" is the term I was looking for and didn't quite come up with. Glad you figured out what we were talking about. Hardware stores and home centers sometimes have torn bags of mulch, etc. Mine sells them for 50 cents or a buck just to get rid of them. Other places for sawdust might be cabinet or millwork shops. If you mulch any areas, you might be able to get free or cheap wood chips from utility or municipal tree trimming crews. Our rural electric co-op has a pile for customers to scoop all they want for free. The city's electric line tree trimming crew will sometimes dump chips for free in the driveway - but be prepared for 2-5 cubic yards.