check it out now and see if its working. If not, introduce some dry ingredients like shredded newspaper prints.

I have limited space and bought a Dual Chamber Composter. Wouldn't go back. It rotates and it has two openings. Pretty easy.

scd probiotics, or terraganix makes a product EM-1, both sell concentrated liquid in quarts and gallons, super cheap and they go forever. these are cultured effective microbes (the things you need).

Is it too dry? We add a lot of stuff to ours and regardless of how wet the additional stuff is, the composter dries out (& biological breakdown stops) after ~3 weeks. I water ours with ~2 gallons every 2-3 weeks.

I also tried my hand at a composting pile. I had built a 4 ' square bed for growing things in but it was only 2' tall. I used leaves , straw, kitchen scraps, chicken manure. I started this in the winter last fall . I turned the pile from the box to the ground and back again. I got one of those temp gauges with the long handle insert 18" I think. Anyway I wanted to hot compost but was only able to get the temp to 130° F. one time very briefly and never got even close to that again. But I still kept turning the pile. I did notice the pile kept getting smaller so I knew at least it was cold composting. Now here it spring and Im ready to plant some tomatoes and that finished compost much as it is some of it will go into my tomato holes. I will only have about a doz toms. Originally I was going to just grow greens in the 4 ' box of compost, dumb thought I suppose. In the end in spite of myself the compost pile did make. Im glad I continued to keep turning the pile and I learned some things along the way. My pile needed to be bigger than it was and more carbon needed and less nitrogen.

It is very dry. Maybe that's the problem. I also put too much straw at bottom and it's not composting at all in two years. I'm ready to toss this thing to the trash can.

Maybe I should.. Or at least remove the straw. I had a large Rubbermaid bin that I drilled holes in, fed scraps and leaves and it made beautiful compost bc I could shake it easily - and it was off the ground. So not sure that's a prerequisite... It was too small tho.

jonlionfish - ground contact might not be a prerequisite but yields the best results for the least effort..been going to gardening classes & we had several complain about their results with tumblers..both instructors favored "open" composting..

It was 1974 or so when I first bumped into composting. The experiences I've had with bin composters is dismal, at best because bins are a profit-producing market item, NOT an effective place to compost anything, for good reason: lack of air.

Sweet soil requires all the fresh air circulation through it possible. A few bins allow a little air, not near enough. Small piles of material on the bare ground make for near fool proof composting, especially with either live enzymes of organic material decomposition or plenty of course materials in a thick layer on the ground and proper ratio of 30:1 carbon material to nitrogen material such as fresh mown grass, or lacking that or other plant material, using urea or ammonium sulphate. Urea is 46% available nitrogen v.s. ammonium sulphate's 21% N. The moisture content needs to remain enough to almost squeeze excess out of a handful by hand pressure. The heat developed in this pile if it's about a minimum of three feet by three feet by up to six feet high will cause the air to flow through and dry the moisture.

If anyone is interested, I am considering the forming of a class for producing nutrient dense natural soil including the analysis of nutrient content to adjust for balanced plant and food consumer health.

I've been doing something similar to jonlionfish. I used big plastic garbage pails and drilled 1 1/2" holes down the side. The lid is a turn type lid (which I can't find any more darn it). I put the garbage pails up on old pallets so they have no ground contact (because I always got a mess of maple roots growing into it). The only thing I add to the garbage pails are uncooked kitchen scraps (and in the fall old annuals). After I've added a bunch of scraps I sprinkle a little layer of chopped up leaves on top. If I get energetic I'll roll the garbage pail once or twice, but usually not. By mid summer my pail is getting full so I sieve it into a few of those gigantic black plastic pots that trees come in and sort of cover it with a somewhat smaller plastic pot. I put the rough stuff back in the garbage pail. When the end of August/September rolls around I've got beautiful compost with almost no work. I live in Muskoka where there are bears and racoons, but for some reason have never had a problem with them getting into my compost. I usually get about 10 x3/4 full bags of compost in a year from a family of 2. The problem now is trying to find something to store my compost in, since all the bags decompose. I've found the Contractor bags really good for this.