Spag, It will basically look like horse manure still. Since you are sourcing in Woodside I am going to assume you are on the penninsula. That makes your soil a bit better than mine (concrete solid clay). My methodology will be a bit different from yours, but here is what I do. I made a screen out of just a piece of 1/2" steel netting (like chicken wire) and nailed it to a wood frame from old 2x4's. Then I screen the manure thru this to break down the clumps into 1/2" size. ( I do this bothto reduce the "clumping" of the manure and to make sure not too much "foreign" matter gets into the beds. I then laid out where my raised beds were going to be and dug 8-12" of the clay out (dang stuff is like concrete!). Then I built my 12" raised beds over the top of that hole. Once that was done I put my screened horse manure in (that brought the "soil" level back to the original ground line) and dug that manure into the clay (evening out the soikld condition as much as possible). So far I have "prepped" 3 6x8 foot beds this way using about 4 cubic yards of screened manure. Now I have lasagna bedded up to the top of the 12" raised bed for the fall-winter (alternate 3" layers of shredded paper mixed with tree clippings/leaves and "grens") Those beds will then be topped off with the compost piles I have running in spring to bring the level back to the top of the raised bed (the lasagna bedding will reduce by about 1/2-2/3 as it composts). Its a few weekends of work, but worth the effort. I would suggest to you that you probably won't need to go as far as I have since your original soil is probably better than this "santa clara clay" (as I keep hearing it called) I have. So you probab;y can just make the raised bed and turn the soil over with some of the manure, then just keep toppping it with the compost as needed...... Its the first "conditioning" that always takes the most work. Oh and the pine shavings are no problem at all, they will break down over time and won;t hurt the plants

I am wondering if I could burn or cook or heat treat (solarize in a bag?) any of these weeds or diseased tomato/cucumber plants well enough that it would be ok to add them to my (hot but imperfectly managed) compost pile. Its just an awful lot of material to be bagging and throwing out to a landfill if there is any other way. I leave seedy weeds in dark plastic bags until they are an anaerobic, stinky, slimy mess then put them in the compost. Seldom have plant diseases here but I expect they wouldn't survive such treatment. Of course there are things I can get away with in a cold climate that people in warmer ones can't. However in your zone 5 you must get some cold in the winter that might eradicate some plant diseases.

Hmmm, it has been really quiet on this forum lately... I don't know that I have good advice to offer. I've yet to succeed in convincing my neighbor that it is racoons that are digging in his lawn and tipping his trash cans, not the other neighbor's (or my INDOOR) cats. Nor have I persuaded him to do something other with his cans so the racoons don't have access...and don't keep spreading his trash in my yard... I suppose that you will just have to explain to him how composting works, and that trying to inadequately compost diseased material will just perpetuate the diseases. Oh, wait, it sounds like you already did. Point out to him that you DO compost and you can't compost this stuff? Maybe mention that it is a tenet of organic gardening to NOT compost diseased materials if you can't run a hot enough pile? About the trees--maybe if you can offer him some native seedlings, or direct him to a cheap or free source, to replace the invasive, non-native trees of heaven (making sure to emphasize the non-native and invasive) that would do it--did he plant those, or are they volunteers?

yeah, with the drought there isn't much green! Call your local sheriff/police if they have a mounted patrol they will LOVE you and give you as much compost as you can carry. Riding stables, poultry farmers, look on Craigslist. I did lasagna gardening here on the island, the newspaper STILL hasn't broken down, too dang dry. Tally HO!