Welcome to composting! It's addictive for sure, and a great learning experience for the kids. To say nothing of what it will do for your yard...and your trash pile!

I'll bet you will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly this can make a difference in your soil. Kids seem to love the "magic" that happens when compost starts to heat up, and it is a great way to foster an interest in science. I volunteer at an organization for at-risk teens, and we use the garden as a way of illustrating math skills, teaching biology, chemistry, and ecology, writing and language lessons, and even American history, discussing Native American gardens, slavery, and the agricultural influences of Washington, Jefferson, and Ben Franklin. I've seen many kids, after a few years away, return "just to see how the garden is doing," because for some of them it made clear why learning could make a difference in how they shaped their lives. You may find yourself inclined to turn that patch of clay into some fine tasting tomatoes, or a few pumpkins for Halloween.

We'll have a garden too. It will have to be a raised bed and I'll use some compost in there (I'm not a fan of buying dirt but I'll have to for the garden). I plan on tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro and onions. Pumpkins should be fun for the kids so I'll add those to the list. Maybe watermelon too.

Go ahead and start planning the location of your next bin :-)

Well, I'm going to need a lot of compost over the next few years... I could add another bin pretty easily :-)

Always good to know a few more kids will have at least some basic understanding of the renewable process of composting, and where food actually comes from. And, it's just great fun for everyone! Enjoy!

Hmm Thought I posted to this thread, hopefully I'm not doubling up.

I too just started composting. I recently bought a house with a huge lawn (which I am slowly downsizing). I hate to think of sending the clippings to the landfill. My pile heated up on day three but has since cooled way down. Moisture seems to be ok so I will turn it a few times to see what happens. Unfortunately, most of the other plant life I have doesn't produce much in the way of browns. I may have to let some of the grass dry out to mix with the green. I do have quite a bit of citrus although I dont think the pile could handle much of that.

How do you know when the process is complete? Is it fairly obvious?

Great forum. Enjoyed the "Beer in Compost" thread.

When there is (almost) nothing left that you recognize, it's finished. I always find a stick or corncob here'n'there that I just throw back to the pile to finish rotting. Add the citrus! I don't worry about ratios since bounties of greens vs. browns can be unpredictable.

For browns, you can solicit leaves from friends/neighbors. Non-glossy paper, napkins, paper towels, and cardboard are browns.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think grass is always a green, even if it's baked dry in the sun before adding. As long as you've mowed before the grass has made seeds, grass clippings are great for putting (not too thickly) right on flower/veg beds, no composting needed. You might want to do that every few mows, especially during the summer when browns are sparse. In the fall, we use the mower to chop & bag the leaves with grass, which goes directly on beds, also, about 2-3" thick.