My compost pile is taller than I am

[spinbaby]

Just after dawn, there is a golden hour—sometimes two—when it’s cool enough to work in the garden comfortably and the world is quiet. Every morning, I have my coffee, open all the windows to air out the house, and head outside. This time of year, garden work is mainly weeding and trimming and this morning my target was an overgrown beauty bush surrounded by weeds. By the time I was done, the bush was neatly weeded, trimmed, and mulched. All the weedings and trimmings went onto the latest compost pile, which was taller than I was by the time I was done.

The tall compost pile is the newest pile. I usually keep four piles in various stages of decomposition and they get shorter with age and use. But I go through a lot of compost and even the oldest pile, the one I draw from when I need compost for the garden, is not all that done, so I have to sieve it to remove twigs and eggshells and the like. It seems to be a fact of life here that there is never enough compost.

[Cracklin Charlie]

1. My dad always had several compost piles going.

When he decided one was done, he would smooth out the area, and plant a fruit tree right in the middle of the old pile.

People would drive by and take pictures of his trees, branches so heavy with fruit that he had to prop them up with 2 by 4’s. Apples, peaches, pears. Sometimes he would plant melons, or blackberries, or strawberries on the old piles. Mmm.

We ate some good food.

[Kaleva]

2. I do what is called Trench Composting

I bury the refuse directly into the garden. The worms and natural decomposition do the work.

[onethatcares]

3. are you "compost everything" folks or

no bones/meat/dairy allowed in the piles?

I'm a compost it all guy, even the occasional bird, squirrel, lizard.

there is never enough compost and usually I have 3 underway in different stages.

I don't plant directly in the piles but screen out the sticks and undones and move them to the newest.