Yes I turn my heap after a couple of weeks or so in the early stages. It's impossible to reach the bottom, and forking over the top half only compresses the bottom layers. So I fork out the whole lot into sacks, and then refill the bin so that the top goes in first and the bottom last, thus 'inverting' the heap. After some 15 years composting, I still find that the most difficult part is preventing it from get too wet during the processs. I visited a local Council composting facility 2 years ago, where they compost garden and food waste in greenhouse-shaped houses. Several tons are composted in each house. When the manager opened the door, clouds of steam issued forth, and the compost looked wet and messy. The wetness was, however, only skin-deep. When parted, the underneath looked dry by comparison. As you probably know, the materials have to achieve a temp of about 60 degrees for 2 consectutive days to comply with the directives. As they had fans to carry away the steam etc, I guess that's how the resulting compost is quite dry when the process is complete. Imagine having 10 tons of wet soggy compost to dry out! Regarding worms; I read somewhere that they can 'drag' leaves into their burrows and tear them up. Somehow I can't quite believe it. It's not as worms have jaws like caterpillars. Mind you, it's interesting to put a Lettuce leaf in the vicinity of those 'night crawler' worms as they search for food. Suddenly the leaf starts to move as a worm starts to pull it back towards its burrow.

Amy, the last three characters before your signature should give it away. I'm more or less poking fun at Ken. Hope he doesn't mind. He actually taught me alot when I first got into gardening with deciduous trees so I do have alot of respect for him. Its just a forum so it really doesn't matter but random, fragmented thoughts separated with...can be difficult to follow. Wow, I just completely derailed your topic.

Hello Jim - I have long been using jute twines, as they are so readily available in the garden centers & box stores - but have to use several strands twisted together for fear of bruising or even cut stems if used singly. I bundle my canes ala hayseedman too & have used strips of old b-sheets. I am running out of sheeting strips as my Lacecaps have grown taller & wider & will used jute twines. From your experience, is jute twine fairly friendly to those skinnier stems? I'm in the process of prepping my bloom tenders as Winter seems to be sneaking in earlier than expected, in our zone. I've also picked up the bagging of collected dry leaves from Hay (but I use smaller bags) for easier clean up in Spring. TIA - ditas

I'm late to the game, but wanted to share an idea we're doing this year. We're starting some local, neighborhood-run produce markets. They're technically grey-market - someone will turn a garage or shed into a produce stand. Anyone can drop produce by, and they list inventory on a whiteboard. Payments are handled through Venmo, so shoppers pay growers directly through a mobile app. It's a grassroots thing meant for neighborhoods, but I think if you had a handful of these going in town, a professional growers could drop off a steady supply of produce to each one. The folks who host it get to keep any produce unsold after a couple of days, so there are definite benefits for them. We wrote down the business model, if anyone wants to steal it :) http://www.hackyourhometown.com/the-grassroots-produce-stand-that-runs-itself/