I have had shredded leaves, protected from the weather, that were quite dry and they did not freeze during the winter even though they were exposed to the same temperatures as some frozen compost that had moisture in it. Well there's the problem. I don't have a compost made of 100% dry leaves. Like most compost, it is a mixture of things, including vegetable and fruit scraps, leaves, straw etc. I'm sure you are right. A pile made purely of dry leaves probably won't freeze, but one that is mixed will. Even if it wasn't wet before the temperatures drop. Although pt03 is from Manitoba. I'm pretty sure even a pile of dry straw will freeze solid where he is. LOL!

All, Good to hear all this. I am only bumping this topic with updates as I find the information useful and hopefully so will others. To be clear on a few points, I originally did use my chipper to reduce freshly fallen leaves but no more. I keep them loose long enough to dry thoroughly and then they easily crush to smaller size by hand, only about 30 minutes work. At this point I started my new pile for next year, mixed in some greens and a couple shovels of old compost to "prime the pump". This is the pile that is already very active with internal temperatures near 125 F. I will continue to monitor the old and the new piles as I am in Zone 4 and our coldest months are January/February. In addition, we are semi-arid around here and I will need to occasionally add moisture. My old pile is indeed fogging but only slightly and it is visible only on the coldest of mornings. I will stick my thermometer in the pile to make certain what the temperature actually is before tilling into the soil. Best of holidays to you all.

A few days in I felt the pile through the tarp on top, I could feel some good heat. The top of the tarp has cooled down since. Because of daylight saving time I was able to have light to turn the pile in the morning today. It's been 9 days since the pile was built. I used a flat-tined fork to do most of the work. it was quite smelly at times. There was no wind at all so the fumes wafted into my face. Not good, once the smell was intense enough that I actually could taste the fermenting horse poo. Yuk. The pile is looking quite nice. The interior was very hot, I could feel it radiating. It steamed nicely. While turning it my less-than-enthusiastic son sprayed the pile with water and occasionally broke up the chunks. A few years ago I adjusted the plumbing so I could have hot water outside, this was for the kids to play in the sprinkler on slightly cooler days. Didn't think it would be so handy for the compost. This is the original pile with the wire removed. It had sagged about 3 inches within the enclosure over 9 days. You can see the steam. You can also see the lack of wind. I wish there was a little, the smell hurt. On Halloween I added a large amount of pumpkin guts with seeds. These seeds sprouted. Pretty cool! They are now deep in the pile so they will die. I guess these seeds are now officially called "malted pumpkin seeds". Anyone make whiskey out of these ever? Here is after turning. The pile is a lot smaller, probably 20% loss.

I also do cold pile composting. If we just leave a pile, it takes about a year to break down. When my husband turns the pile twice a year (spring & fall) the compost breaks down quite rapidly - in a matter of weeks sometimes. Either way, you'll end up with lovely compost. For the past 4 years, I've kept a large plastic garbage can, lined with a heavy duty plastic bag, in the basement. I add all my kitchen vegetable waste to it along with paper from our paper shredder and sawdust from my husband's workshop. In the spring we just wheel it out to the compost pile, dump it in and fork some compost over it. In no time at all it is completely composted. Since I only use fruit & vegetable waste and coffee grounds, there is never an odor from the can in the basement, and I don't have to hike through the snow to get to the compost pile. This year we added a couple shovel-fulls of earthworm-filled compost to the inside container - a sort of vermiculture experiment. I'll let you know how it turns out. So far the worms seem very happy when I give them their daily coffee ground & apple core meals!