Holy crow! I started my very first pile three weeks ago and put 40 odd broccoli stems (done harvesting) and three wheelbarrows full of rhubarb (we were cleaning up the bushes) in it amongst other things like dry grass clippings and kitchen scraps. I watered the pile for a little over a week (it got up to 128Ë), then got started on other things and forgot about it for a while. It dried out, so I figured I'd just leave it until I was ready to layer it into a new pile with some horse manure. I've been doing that this past weekend (more garden waste coming) and it occurred to me that of all that vegetation I put in there, I only found THREE broccoli stalks that were more towards the edges. *shock* I thought those would take forever, but they were gone in three weeks in a neglected pile. Wow.

I got myself a 20" compost thermometer on the weekend, so I'll get to see exactly how hot things are cooking now. :) Hubby is hauling hay the next two days or so and in cleaning out the hayshed, he found 9 spoiled timothy bales, which normally I'd be ticked about, but this year I'm excited because I can use them to help enclose the base of my free-standing pile.

Thanks for listening. Few people I know share my excitement about rotting vegetation. :)