Take a look here, it will help : )

Oh, and if you must go on the pile, do it at night, when the threat of mosquitos will keep your gf inside the house....if she didn't see it, it never happened. Heh. Only teasing, the most common advice says no human waste on the compost.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compost 101

Scardanelli
Your compost pile needs to have other things layered into it, such as tree leaves, kitchen scraps of all kinds, shredded cardboard, toilet and paper towel rolls, good quality composted manure, spoiled hay, and most anything except meat and bones. My experience with just leaving grass clippings in a pile is that they do heat up, but also tend to mold in a rather unpleasant way and don't decompose properly without other amendments.

Formerly I was much more "pristine" about what I put in my compost pile, such as not adding anything that had been cooked, such as left over beans, spagetti, etc, but after some considerable study, have changed my mind.

My DS just made me a huge compost bin from salvaged pallets nailed together. I did put some heavy layers of cardboard in the bottom to keep tree roots out, but it's getting good circulation. I have been layering my kitchen, canning and food scraps with soil I toss on top, and then a layer of hay, and repeating the process daily. I've also just been pulling up old played out cuke, zucchini and green bean vines, and tossing them on as well.

If you do this, I wouldn't think you'd have to be concerned about loosing nitrogen, or a bad mix of components, and the pile should start heating up pretty fast, and no, you do NOT have to turn the pile. In fact, it should be left as is until the composting process is completely finished.

If you were overly concerned about nitrogen, you could possibly speed up the process by adding Miracle Grow or straight nitrogen, but I don't personally think it's necessary.

You could purchase a thermometer with a long probe, and take the internal temp of the top of your heated pile. It should start really heating up and even steaming. This will kill any pathogens in the pile, but once the bin is full and heating well, it should be covered with hay on top and just left for a year at the very least.

As far as human waste goes, you'd probably see your girlfriend packing her suitcases and moving back to mom's.
However, the following link gives some interesting facts on that issue. As I understand it, some folks on the forum have composting sawdust toilets. Whether they process that into their compost piles, I don't know.

Here is a link that might be useful: Humanure Handbook

Thanks for the replies guys. I think maybe I worded my question poorly.

What I should have said was that i'm saving up my grass clippings until I get enough brown carbon material to mix them with. I wil mix them together once I have enough material to make a pile that's 3x3x3. Mike McGrath on You Bet Your Garden (I love that show!) said it was better to save up your ingredients until you can make a pile big enough to get proper temperatures... So, while im saving the grass clippings, do they lose nitrogen content?

I hope that's clearer :)

I would be afraid if you are saving your grass clippings they are fermenting and going to smell nasty. Are they in a big pile? Little pile? Bags?

I would start a pile with whatever you have and then add to it. I generally like to cover whatever I've added with the dry grass on top, makes it look neater.

Carbon sources are bountiful if you have junk mail :) I have friends who shred their mail and then pass it on to me.

The soil forum has a saying IALBTC (It all leads back to compost), if I remember correctly. Don't worry about the size, just start it. Even a cold pile will compost, just not as spectacularly quick!

and...I put meat and bones (and fat!) in my compost... I know, it's wrong, but I do it anyway. I live in a fairly protected area with not a lot of loose, wild animals. As long as I bury it in the center of the pile, it all disappears.

I did junk mail for awhile, but we got a little too ambitious and broke our shredder. Maybe it's time for another one.

I generally just keep it in a big pile next to the compost bin. I try to turn it to keep it from going too toxic :).

There seems to be such a debate between cold composters and hot composters. I've read that hot compost is more beneficial to soil micro-organisms and all around better than cold compost. Whereas cold compost is really only good to improve the texture of the soil.

Perhaps adding more nitrogen to a smaller pile will get the same results as a larger pile...???

Scardanelli
Lisa's right...you CAN add meat and bones if you want to, (I would think to a hot pile). It ALL composts.

The Humanure Handbook guy even adds small dead critters to his hot pile. That's going a tad too far for me. I like to keep it simple and not have to worry about pathogens.

As for the hot pile/cold pile debate. I like the hot pile aspect for fast decomposition, and as I mentioned, the killing off of potential disease pathogens. However, remember, if you don't turn your pile, it will be cold on the bottom, where the worms and other beneficial organisms can still work over the residue and turn it into a fine finished compost without being cooked. I think a hot pile can reach 160 degrees F.

I know that others have their methods, but that's mine, and like Lisa said, if you just start it and begin layering, it will compost whether hot, cold, fast or slow. But like she also said, piling up green grass clippings alone, can get pretty nasty.
Barbara

I have NEVER just stored any compost pile additions. I add them. Then, if necessary I go out and find the next addition/layer. :)

In the end, it composts. Hot cold, the compost doesn't care.

Moni

Scardanelli,

I really like Mike McGrath and have ever since he was editor of Organic Gardening magazine quite a few years ago. The magazine hasn't been the same since he left. I also really enjoyed his book "You Bet Your Tomatoes" which was written with his sense of humor fully in play. Unless he's left PA, though, he doesn't garden in the same climate we garden in, and I think compost piles here heat up relatively quickly because they have a lot of help from our intense sunlight. You do have to water them to keep them moist if regular rain isn't falling though.

I agree with the suggestion that you just go ahead and start now using whatever you have. Maybe the pile now will be higher in grass clippings, but then in the fall you'll be able to add a lot of carbon-rich leaves. If you turn the pile periodically, it all will mix together eventually.

I've never been real precise with layering stuff in my piles. I just throw whatever I have on the pile and I've never had any trouble getting the mix right without even trying. When I stick a garden fork into the pile to turn it, the pile usually is so hot that you can see steam coming out of the middle. (That can happen spring through fall but normally not in winter.)

Don't overthink it too much. Just throw whatever you've got onto the pile and it will decompose. Trust me. In general, compost happens. About the only thing that really messes it up here is if you keep it too wet. We don't even compost our grass clippings. They just go straight into garden beds and pathways as mulch. Here, they don't decompose into a slimey mess the way they do in some places, but I am in hot and dry southern OK where it is not raining and the grass clippings are pretty dry right now to begin with.

I've yet to have a cold pile not become a hot pile at some point. If it is really decomposing it will create enough heat to become a hot pile, as long as you keep it moist. It is possible to have a cold, dry pile.

As far as losing nitrogen, I don't know at what rate the nitrogen depletes from the grass, but would think it happens fairly fast as the grass dries out. That's just a guess though.

Dawn

Dawn
The only reason I "layer" is when I'm putting fresh, or sloppy garden scraps, like tomato scraps, peels, leftovers, and canning or freezing residue and the like on top of the pile, and that's to keep the flies and vermin out of it. Then I put a shovel full of dirt and then maybe some hay ( to make it look neat) on top of it. Other than that, like you said, just toss it on. I would expect, like me, you have a lot of "stuff" that gets tossed on to create the heat.

Barbara

I don't know a lot about composting although I have read a lot. I just throw it in and wet it down and turn it ever now and then. I mostly have autumn leaves in the fall, and if they aren't shreaded in the fall, they don't break down the first winter sometimes. However, the ground where the compost pile was has benefited.

I just have a big plastic coated wire bin and periodically, I work the wire up, move it to a new area, and pick up the compost heap with a fork and throw it all back on, which is now upside down. I have done that twice this summer and the circle of ground under it both times was all brown and rich looking. I don't usually have a real hot pile. In the past, I have bought mushroom compost but at the moment I don't have a way to get it.

Now I have a question. Obviously when you use poultry droppings you get a very hot pile, so what is the minimum time that it has to age to be used in the veggie garden? I have seen everything from 3 weeks to 6 months. Is there a rule of thumb? I am interested in using quail manure and would like to know how long it has to age. We once had rabbits and I could just add it on straight, but I know you can't do that with any kind of bird. Any thoughts?

It all depends on how your compost behaves and what else you add to it. As long as it does not smell anymore and the rest of your ingredients have broken down, it should be good to use.

Thanks. I can handle that. Although when I buy a load of mushroom compost, it has already grown mushrooms and still smells like the horse. LOL I put it right on the garden and it is wonderful. I have got to get my trailer in shape so I can start buying it again.