LOL
I can relate. I just started composting last year. Things are in full swing this year. I too, am trying to come up with ideas for more browns. I don't 'need' them. I want them! When I started this, I had no idea this would be so addicting!

My son makes fun of me, yet he never complains about helping me pick up leaves from the curb (when they can be had) and he treks out to the pile at night with me so we can watch the steam! LOL

He actually helped me turn it some yesterday, but got frustrated with me because I turned so much. He said I messed it up and "...it's all cold now!"

Sounds like you've given him the composting "bug". I love it!

I've just found a guy locally who posted on the classified ads he has large piles of chipped/shredded pine. Come and get it for free. I may just have to go visit him and get a bucket or two.

Our utility crews will dump a truckload at an address, just for the asking. But we're talking 5-10 yards, a bit more than a wheelbarrow!

Other potential sources for browns...

You might call a custom cabinet shop or millwork shop or two and see about sawdust. Just make sure there's no significant amount of treated stuff in it (if they cut one board in a cubic yard of sawdust it won't amount to anything, IMHO). Sawdust and shavings will decompose faster than big chips, although in summer the wood chips will have a lot of nitrogen in them from leaves.

If you're in farming/livestock country, hit up your farm supply store for damaged bales of pine shaving horse bedding. Mine throws them out if they get a hole in the bag and rain gets the shavings wet. I pull them out of the dumpster.

Finally, some horse owners have 'manure and straw' that turns out to be way more straw than manure, so it's on the brown side. They'll often load it for you if you bring a truck.

And when you turn those piles, put new stuff only into the first pile, so the third pile is finished and ready to use sooner.

Happy rotting!

"my current hubby"

ha

See if you can find a woodturning or furniture making company that has clean hardwood and softwood shavings and dust. That's what I use primarily as my brown; since that's what I do and have easy access to as many planer and lathe shavings as I could ever want or use. I'm actually trying to compost the stuff behind the business, but need a front loader and a ton more greens that I am currently able to get to really make it work as a hot pile.

I emailed my son's teacher today. Score!!!
Will be bringing home bags of paper! I've got my bins full, but now I'm going to start a pile to do the no-dig bed for next year. I've only got several bags of leaves left, so looking for more browns.

I've been stalking craiglxxx for moving boxes and anything I can use!

LOL gawdinfever I now know who my competition is for boxes or other fun compostable items on Craigslist. Another good option is freecycle. I see your are St Louis so you might not be to much of a competition as I am west of you in St Charles.
Sandy
tree huggin' soil worshippin' trash pickin' dog lovin' recyclin' woman
please control the pet population, spay or neuter your pet
Mystic(German shepherd), Ginger ( Vizsla boxer (?)mix) and Pixie (JRT and Chihuahua mix)

So let me get this right... moving boxes?

When we moved (in December) I carefully broke down all our moving boxes and stacked them in the basement under the stairs. We are in a temporary house and I'm pretty sure we'll be packing up again maybe next year.

We knew there was firewood stacked behind the garage but when spring got here and I went exploring I also found a huge stack of someone else's moving boxes (previous owner?). Anyway, they had obviously been out in the weather for a while and where the rain gutter had failed and dripped on the boxes they were rotted nearly through the 2' pile. I put that on my list of stuff to clean up but haven't gotten to it.

When I started my lasagna pile I remembered those boxes and I pulled 5 or 6 of them out to put on the bottom of the bed. But there are still dozens of them behind the garage.

Can I keep adding them to the lasagna pile? Should I layer them or rip them up into little pieces? I don't have a shredder/chipper so that is not an option.

Also, when I go to Sam's club I try to pick boxes that don't have glossy labels on them to box my groceries. That way I can at least burn the box in the fireplace. But if you all say composting the cardboard can be done more than just at the bottom of the lasagna pile, then I'll start using them too.

momstar your rotten boxes sound perfect for the compost. You might want to rip them into a least a few chunks before adding to your piles, since a big sheet of it in there will shed water away from what's underneath until it actually decomposes.

Usable boxes are best reused or recycled into new cardboard first - higher and better use and all that - but if the boxes aren't good quality to begin with and one doesn't have recycling facilities, composting is better than the landfill. Reduce, reuse, recycle *then* compost is my motto.

Good point. If we had the option for recycling that would be priority over composting. The rotten ones are not reusable. I think I will start to rip them up and add them a little at a time with grass clippings.

If I move the whole stack of boxes out by the bins it will remind me to add them.

Lesson learned:
From now on, *you* are the one in the driver's seat.

Yep, and wearing the composting pants in the family. :-o

We compost all of our cardboard, boxes from cereal, ready-made foods, frozen foods, etc. We also compost all of our brown paper bags, junk mail, cotton socks. We have chickens and we compost their empty feed bags, including the cotton string that's used to sew them up with. If it's organic you can compost it. I throw twigs and branches into the bins and after the bark is broken down, DH tosses them out. The hard parts of the wood take a very long time to break down, so we burn them and use the ashes in the pile instead.

Cheryl