Compost -- You Can Use the Heat:

Making t is either the easiest work or some of the hardest you might do. One school of thought is simply to build a pile in the back yard and take the finished material from the bottom while adding extra to the top. Since you need to put all that yard and kitchen waste somewhere anyway, it really adds no more work to the equation. Another group changes things all together and manually turns their t pile every three or four days. Since a yard of t may weigh a ton, this can be seen to be a lot of work, especially when m of these dedicated souls have three piles working at once; an accumulation pile for gathering present materials, a pile in its first turning stages and a finished pile ready for lawn and garden. The latter two piles will need turning and distribution.

Granted that the exercise is good, still this is a lot of hard work. Why would such rty souls dig their pile when the same effort might be put into weeding or working the soil? Quite simply they realize the benefits of what is sometimes known as "hot" ting. In fact, on a cool spring or fall morning, you can see the moisture rise from the pile in bits of fog the t is so evident.

Just like us, bacteria and fungi pump out body t. As they work away to digest the t pile and turn it into rich humus for the soil, they continually give off t. The moisture in the pile and the covering of material in the outer six inches or so help to generate the t and then retain it. In fact, a well made hot t pile will be too hot for your hand when it is good and active.

This is used by the hot ters to regulate their piles. When the temperature drops to a fortable level, it is time to give the organisms hard at work a bo in their diet. They either need food, water or air to keep up the vy life style they have begun. Hence the turning. While moving the pile one can add water to a dry pile. Folding the pile in on itself distributes the food and adds air. Quickly it will t up again.

As it ts the t is doubly enriched by th organisms that cook it. They pasteurize the humus killing weed seeds and harmful organisms while their own short lived bodies break down and make more nutrients available to the plants who will later grow in the material. Of course, there is also the speed of ting as the t helps the material to break down letting a good ter finish a pile in as little as two weeks.