Unless you drench you compost and make it into a sodden mass there should be no reason to need to ram a pry bar in it to loosen it up and any compost pile less than 6 feet by 6 feet will have ample air infiltration, provided too much water has not been used so the air is driven out. There will never be enough material for a really aggresive composter, that is just the nature of things. If you are having good results with your 3 foot diameter wire fence I would stick with that size and make the bin of redwood 3 x 3 even though a 4 x 4 x 4 would provide twice as much compost if you do not have enough material now you will not with that size.

I put all plain paper junkmail in the compost tumbler, but none of the glossy stuff. I'm sure the plain newspapers would be fine, but not the glossy inserts. I've tried it some, but it was way too much work ripping it up to do it every day. I'm thinking of getting one of those old-fashioned paper cutters, with the arm that comes down, to try that again in the summer, when my tumbler needs more dry stuff. I also dump the roomba into it but we don't use chemicals much in the house, so the roomba only picks up pet hair and the dirt the pets and I track in from the garden. I figure return it. We also don't have carpets, so the roomba isn't picking up synthetics. Some people suggest dryer lint, but seems it would have a lot of synthetics in it. And many will advise against this, but it's certainly a kind of uniquely Florida form of trash - stone crab claws. I've done it once. It stunk pretty bad, up to a couple feet or so away, even when closed, for a couple days. But even ten feet away, in the pool, we didn't notice it. It continued to be a bit smelly when opened for another week or so. But that was it. I also have a tumbler, so animals couldn't get to it and it's in the back of the yard, nowhere near the house. And I figure seafood shells must have some of the good nutrients that fish emulsion does. I haven't used that compost yet, so I may find whole crab claws, cleaned of their stink, in the mix. I'm not sure it will actually break down the hard claws. I've put shrimp shells in several times and didn't notice a stink at all. I also never found undigested shells in the compost when I used it. And I sometimes use my compost before it's completely done, just because I need to switch them. So I often find egg shell bits that haven't completely broken down. It mostly goes under mulch anyway, so I don't worry. But beware, once you get one, you'll want another one. And it doesn't end there. Both of mine are full at the moment, after a big yard project. I just keep turning them and stuffing more kitchen waste in the newer one, but I wish I had a third. Hope you enjoy yours. It's a very cool present. Susannah

I love the memory board idea, but I transferred my calendar to digital and I will never go back. I can access my calendar on my phone anywhere, which is very handy for creating new appointments on the fly (like while still at the dentist) and for remembering where I need to be and where my kids should be. A grocery list is only good when you can take it to the grocery store, which... if you write the list down on a white board, you'd have to transfer it to a piece of paper later. But the memory board is cute and fun! :o)

Most cutting tables are covered with heavy duty fabric over cotton- some have 1" square measurements on them. Fabric doesn't slip, pins can be added & leagth/width checked. I don't own one but sure would like to! I had one made from a laminate counter top & loved it; I set it up on DH's plastic saw horses & it worked great. If you're using plywood without a cover but sure it's sanded smooth as a baby's bottom to protect your fabric. The pink 4 x 8' foam sheets from building supply may work- when I had lots of room I had 2'x 3' pcs. of 2" foam sheets on the wall above my machines. (2 slender finishing nails driven in the wall & just smoosh the foam on!) to hold all kinds of things...short bamboo skewers pushed in at an upward angle were great to hang things on & I could pin instructions, patterns, elastic, ribbon, needle etc. Suzi