Yes add shredded paper. Most everything that was recently living can be thrown in except meat and dairy products. Cover up foods that animals might find. Keep reading and contribute to this forum and in no time you will be up to speed. Wooden sticks can take a long time to de-compose. Good luck with your new compost pile.
Bill Hill

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ A Brief Intro to Composting

Congratulations Cidster!

I would suggest - Just Keep Adding! And add as much as you can now to get it really big & really started going so you can really get the "feel" of it & get into it.

Here's a couple thoughts - look through your fridge - is there old salsa? old cranberry sauce? 2-week old left over canned green beans? 3-week-old unused scallions? the very slimy salad greens? the cantaloupe that you could push your thumb through b/c it ripened 5 days ago? left over french fries from the doggy bag from lunch on Monday? ...

yes, more grass is usually always lovely :) , so is more leaves & paper - also, soaked (soak it in a bucket first makes it MUCH easier) & torn cardboard is also lovely :)

Do you have a spot, bucket or container on/under/near your kitchen counter to "save" all of your veggie trimmings yet? I used a big tuperware, until DH got a lovely stainless steel canister (w/filters) - for his sanity, so he didn't have to (in his words) "look @ garbage on the counters" - of course, I viewed it as the components of gardener's "black gold"! The point here ... you would be amazed at how quickly that container fills up w/veggie & other scraps (we put the kid's morning toast crusts & napkins in there too, etc.) - stuff you didn't even realize you were throwing away - the few bad grapes, the grape stems, (but NOT the cantaloupe seeds unless you want 'em growing in your garden or unless your compost pile gets hot enough to kill the seeds), orange peels, onion tips, carrot & potato peels, ...

Also, if you really want to have fun & have a laugh, read one of the "You Know You're a Compost Wacko When ..." threads - THAT's actually what brought me to GW Soil Forum - I stumbled upon that thread when doing a google search for a tv garden show's compost "how to" - and I've loved it here ever since!

If you have more questions, keep asking! Wishing you,
All the Best, Tree

PS Not all of us here are compost wackos - I'm still in the wacko-wanna-be stage - don't know if that's something to aspire to though ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: You Know You're a Compost Wacko When - GW Thread

Er.... blush blush (not really!), I have two containers in the bathroom, one for the famous liquid gold, and the other for the toilet paper we ladies use after peeing! Paper goes in the compost with some of the pee, diluted pee goes in the garden, and think of the water saved by not having to flush!!!

I have an Australian friend who told me this little rhyme his family uses to save water:

When it's yellow, all is mellow,
When it's brown, flush it down