Leaf mold is just leaves piled up and allowed to naturally digest for some time. Compost is a mixture of material piled in a way that mixes roughly 30 parts Carbon to 1 part Nitrogen so a fairly specific species of bacteria can work and digest that material. Two, vastly, different ways to get kind of more or less the same end results, digested organcic matter.
So, no, you could not get both from the same bin.

The easiest way to make leaf mold is to bag it up or pile it up, move it out of your way and wait for 2-3 years. You're going to love the stuff.

But aren't you also going to want a compost bin for your household refuse? You can make compost more quickly than leaf mold. If you make your compost bin too leaf heavy, you're going to have to wait almost the same length of time to harvest it as you would straight leaf mold.

I'm lucky enough to have a leaf source (the Brewer dump), so I'm able to bring home all the leaves I want, which I drag out into the woods behind my house where I forget about them for a few years. Sometimes I can harvest the leaf mold that forms first in the bottom of the bags a little sooner.

kimmsr and annpat: thank you very much for your quick responses.

Correction: I started the wire bin in April 2008.

Update: I also have an Earth Machine composter that I put my household refuse in. Every time I dump some refuse in, I top it with about 2 inches of oak leaves.
--> I don't think it's ?working? I don't think it's heating up. (I don't have a compost thermometer yet). I don't even see things breaking down. Heck, it was breaking down more/faster when the refuse was in the tupperware container in my kitchen.
--> Should I stir it around? I haven't yet (it's been ~5weeks since I started).

So this wire bin is only for my insane amount of leaves from all my trees. But I was trying to speed things up a tiny bit, thinking I'll add some green in the middle to heat it up a bit.
--> Isn't what I'm doing w/ the green/brown layers kinda like lasagna composting?
I think I'll just stop putting greens in there and just keep piling on more browns (dried leaves).

thank you very much.
Amanda

Every time I dump some refuse in, I top it with about 2 inches of oak leaves.

You don't say what type or how much 'refuse' you are putting in so it's very possible that you are adding too much of the carbon (leaves for the amount of N stuff. 2" of leaves is quite a bit. ;)

Also in MA the outdoor temps may be slowing things down if they are still on the cool side?

Dave

What I have seen of this "composter" does not look like a large enough volume for the bacteria digesting to generate much, if any, heat. This would be a cold composter.