If it is a wood product, it's a brown....regardless of how fresh it is. Ideally you want 1 part greens for every 3-4 parts browns so dump in your lawn clippings, kitchen waste, coffee grounds, seaweed, any non-flowering annual weeds and stir it up and let it cook :-)

btw, if you just let it sit all on its own, it will eventually compost as well. It just takes a lot longer.

Great suggestion by klem1. Also look for other people or operations that need wood shavings or sawdust for whatever reason, including mulch. Perhaps landscaping or gardening teams or companies, compost operations, or just put out internet ads locally (craigslist or whatever). Most might not be willing to pay much but if it covers your gas costs and hassle of taking elsewhere, all the better. I'd take a truck bed full tomorrow for twenty bucks or so, but doubt you're local to me.

Gardengal's general comments on how to compost them are right. Many who compost general household/kitchen waste will have an excess of greens. If your municipality has a composting operation, my impression is that they also need 'browns' to balance what they get from households; they may not pay for it but if it's cheaper and easier for you to drop off at their spots than what you're doing now, you're still ahead.

There are also companies that make things like wood pellets for heating or kitty litter, but my guess is most of them are built around continuous and consistent waste streams like milling operations and wouldn't be interested in occasional small-ish loads.

Thanks for the replies - We're in the process of building a house now on a 10 acre field and would like a large garden for next year, so I'm hoping to be able to have this composted by then (or else start dumping at the new house site and let it compost there). We live near a lot of farms, so finding a manure source wouldn't be difficult at all. Might be worth the effort for that because lawn clippings aren't enough!

Which ever way you choose,keep it moist and stired.

Ah, you want the compost, I misunderstood (thought you wanted to figure out how to dispose of the wood shavings).

Start dumping in a pile or even spreading as mulch at the new place. Mixed with manure or other greens is better, but the stuff will age on its own into compost either way. Air, some moisture, a bit of turning if you can, no need to overcomplicate.

Wood chips and sawdust are great mulch for paths since they compact down and weeds have a harder time growing through.

My question is about the compost-(un)worthiness of chips from the "deadest" dry hand-friable wood. It occurs to me that perhaps wood in this state is cellulose devoid of the stuff that composting microbes want; and further decomposition would have to result from the conditions of its proximate environment, and/or be performed by cellulose eaters. Please share knowledge.

Good afternoon four. Your points and question are certainly viable but truth is folks usually settle into somewhat of a "hands off" method or stop altogether because they don't consider the effort worthwhile. I fit into the hands off group. This is strictly my opinion but I realize many do it other ways very successfully. I 'm on my 81st trip around the sun so I prioritize what I expend energy doing. That is to say I relocate,stir,move or tend as little as possible and still get satisfactory results. I think you are correct in saying the process is remarkably different to conventional ,methods where green-brown mixture,airation and moisture balance are monitored and controlled. Hopefully others share and I'd like to hear more form you.

Not exactly composting per se but one can learn a lot from hügelkultur.

That surely is intended for someone else (nothing in it relates to what I wrote).

Dadgum houzz site server must have edited what I wrote. Here it is verbatim.

"I think you are correct in saying the process is remarkably different to conventional ,methods where green-brown mixture,airation and moisture balance are monitored and controlled."

Since that was lost in the shuffle this endorsement was probably redacted as well.

"Hopefully others share and I'd like to hear more from you."

For some time now I've noticed long time contributors slowing down then dropping out to never return. Censorship through redacting posts without giving reason or making it known very well might be responsible for progressively shrinking participation.