Composting Progress

I've had my composter for a few weeks now, and things are moving along, just a little slowly. But that's ok. I put leaves, of which there was no shortage, and kitchen scraps also of which there was no shortage. A small bucket of chicken poop made it in, too, but that's about it. I was dreaming of collecting all sorts of stuff to put in there, like wood ashes, more animal manure, and maybe some hay or straw. I'll still get the desired end result, though. It will take longer since I'm not putting 'hot' items in there, and also now that it's freezing outside it will slow down the process. My last attempt at composting was done under similar conditions, and by spring I had beautiful, rich, dark soil. My biggest obstacle has been dealing with the fruit flies. Oh my. I opened the lid one day to a swarm of maybe 10 million fruit flies exiting the bin. It was awful. I learned a trick, though, to line my container (in the kitchen) with newspaper before I fill it with the scraps. Then, I can fold it over and drop in the bin keeping the gnat-attracting food covered. It's worked great.

So, is it bad manners to show the inside of your compost bin? Hehehe... here's what it looks like today.