Start of Compost Pile

Brilliant - a great idea. If you are new to composting remember not to put cooked food on the heap - and stick with things that have grown. (eg no meat, pastry etc) Rotting is quicker when the heap heats up so having it in some sort of bottomless container helps to contain it and keep it warm.

I would love a compost bin! I found a simple diy for one, just before I replied to you, actually.. Lol. (Birds and Blooms website). I think I might try it :). Will at least keep the wild animals out.. I have a book called Mini Farming, Self Suffency on a Quarter Acre. It explains the 2 different ways to compost, & how to do it without it smelling, etc. & how you can toss in anything that was once living or came from something that was once living. I need about 3, however, (bins) to hold all 3 stages of compost.

http://www.markhamfarm.com/mainsite/sample-page/#minifarming Here is a link about the book, at Steragram. It's for gardening/farming for 1/4 acre or less. (Like me. I have no acreage at all, lol).

Looks useful. When you say throw in anything that was once living I hope that doesn't include animal carcases, cooked or uncooked? I get by with three plastic bins but if I was starting again from scratch I would have wooden ones side by side for garden waste and my present plastic one near the back door for kitchen veg waste. I compost lawn mowings and leaf mould just in heaps. Done like that they take about two years to make lovely black compost.
How much garden space do you have? If you don't have enough material to keep two of your bins fairly full they won't heat up enough to rot down quickly.

It means anything organic. I have tossed a turkey carcass that was sitting in my fridge too long. Bones an all. Idk exactly how much , probably 100'x25'. (It's wide from side to side not front to back). However I am having my boyfriend take down the Kudzu plants (what looks like ivy). It will add rm exponentially.

*Scratches head, puts hat back on*. Wouldn't it rot anyway, cooked or not, & wouldn't cooked food just accelerate the rotting process, anyway?? At Steragram.

I think it would need much higher temperatures than you would get in a small outdoor heap, but the worst thing is that it will attract rats and foxes. I found a rat in my bin once and that only had weeds, peelings, cabbage leaves etc in it and meat would be a lot worse. Regardless of what the book says it is best to avoid meat in a small garden heap.

I have no practical experience with putting cooked food in the heap as apart from the fact that the general advice is not to do it, we rarely have any left over. It is much better and safer to use the council collection scheme for any cooked food waste. If you are in doubt why not ask a question specifically about it on here and see what other members advise?

Good thinking to remove the Kudzu - it will rot more quickly if you chop it up before adding to the heap. And if your heap is not hot enough to kill the seeds you'll need to look out for seedlings when you eventually spread the compost.

Far as the meat goes, you can probably use a solid bin & just keep turning it with the straw. The author talks about how to keep animals/predators out of it.

I was told the best thing is to get a tractor for the Kudzu. An yes, every yr it's a battle with the Kudzu. It dies every winter & returns every Spring :(.At Steragram.

I saw some men trimming trees in my neighborhood and shredding the limbs in a shredder that sent the small pieces into a truck. I asked them what they did with all that mulch. They said they took it to the city dump. I asked if I could have some and they dumped it all under some trees in my back yard and said they would bring me plenty more if I wanted. They have to pay to dump it in the city dump.Now many of my friends are getting free mulch and my flowers never looked better. I get a big pile every year and don't even lift a finger or pay anything for it.

LOL!

This, I could get used to.. lol!