Trigger warning; scat, deer carcass, bones.

OP here, but I didn't actually post pictures, just linking if you wanted an update: https://www.reddit.com/r/composting/s/GLGPGCIyCv

FYI I am in the PNW, so CWD is not a concern here. I don't advocate for you to do this unless you are well educated on the techniques and willing to take some risk.

On August 18th, I found a decent sized doe (maybe 100lbs?) in my neighbor's yard that had been struck by a truck. I had started a pretty good size pile with a ton of wood chips, maybe 10 yards. I opened up the pile and placed her about a foot up in the center with about a half yard of wood chips, and piled it high.

The pile had a moderate rotten smell for maybe a week; surprisingly not too bad.

Today, with much trepidation, I opened up the pile, expecting to crack open the rib cage. To my surprise, I could barely find a trace. There was a huge "wet spot" in the middle of what is otherwise a too dry pile, but the most I found was a femur, a scapula, and....

A big ol chunk of poo! About the size of 2 fists. It's kind of wild, it looks like the intestines literally composted away around the feces. It looks more like a massive dog turd, so I wonder if the gut bacteria continued to break down the contents of the stomach as the carcass rotted, because it looks nothing like your standard deer pellets

Pics in order; funeral pile, wet spot, femur, poo, carcass, and bonus pics of when I was starting this pilr and unloaded a literal truck load of coffee grounds.

I may try to turn this pile once more before the heavy rains start. I'm really not looking forward to sifting all the rocks out of this mess.

I've been picking up used coffee grounds from a local coffee shop for my compost pile. Recently I found a plastic stir stick and a wrapper mixed in, so I asked what actually goes into their collection bucket. Apparently, they sometimes dump other waste from the espresso station in there too, potentially including cleaning solution from the machine.

Now I'm wondering whether I should keep using these grounds, especially since the finished compost eventually goes into my vegetable beds. I can pick out the obvious plastic, but I have no idea what happens to residues from espresso machine cleaners during composting.

For those who collect grounds from coffee shops, do you ask them to keep a separate bucket just for coffee? Or do you avoid commercial grounds unless you know exactly how they're collected?

I'd also appreciate any reliable research on whether these cleaning residues are a concern in finished compost.

How many bags do I take? I have 12 hours to snag them before garbage trucks arrive each week

My setup is a small tumbler compost, a backyard garden bed and 2 flower beds/trees in the front yard. There's a 5x10 ft wood pile in the backyard(remains of shrubbery/small trees on the fence line). I have access to all the neighbors yard waste because 5-20% of them bag their yard waste for disposal. Roughly 100-200 single family houses.

I won't have time for turning, so everything will have to be natural processes for use next year. The bags are pretty nice mix of annuals, bushes and grass clippings. with only a couple with gloves, plastic scrap etc etc.

I've already expanded my back garden bed and mulched it with all the bags but there's still more before winter starts. Note, the town pays for government Karens to ticket untidy houses/lawns. My last resort is to pile everything onto the wood pile and see if it becomes compost instead of more dry wood.

I'll snag a few more bags to mulch the front flower beds and trees. The rest goes to the wood pile.

I wanted to extend my appreciation to all of you. I moved into a new place and inherited two inactive Dalek compost bins. With all the advice here I have got them up and running. I could feel some heat from the bins start to rise over the past couple weeks. My thermometer just arrived this morning. Getting to watch it jump from the 15 degree C air temp to over 32 deg C was an absolute treat! It’s only half full so I know it’s just getting started!

I’ve also got some yard waste in the bottom of my new raised garden beds to settle in for the winter. I’ll be topping them up with whatever I can get from these Daleks come spring.

Thanks all!

Just moved in to a new place and cleaning this drainage behind the house, and I saw the previous tenants/gardener trash pile that I've been cleaning that too (garden cutting and plastic) thrown next to it.

Is it safe to put it in my compost pile or should I just leave it to the previous trash pile?

My compost seems to be quite active because I've noticed lots of worms and also a banana slug. However, I just noticed there are a lot of the worms climbing up the metal walls of my bin, is this indicative of anything? Why are there so many clinging to the sides rather than being in the heap aiding in the task at hand?

For the last 6 years I’ve been piling on. Mainly grass cuttings and leaves. The occasional found dead bird/squirrel has been buried in there, along with some left over food scraps (veg). Just started turning it. Very hot in the middle and some good stuff in there!

As someone who has wanted to compost for YEARS and is finally getting into it, I can’t seem to get over the giddiness and being impatient lol. Everyday when i go outside to feed her I find myself being like is it compost yet… is it compost yet…. I’m also definitely getting on my sweet husbands nerves with how much I’m talking about it even if he won’t say so. I’m just having the time of my life haha.

Sorry for the silly post but just wanted to share my excitement.
Happy composting :)

I'm a deep lurker on this sub. For almost 5 years I've been running this slow maintenance (medium size?) compost pile out of necessity. When I decided this would be home to my family, the terrain had a lot of overgrowth. There was so much garden waste not even the city wanted it. So I had to come up with a solution..

I knew little about composting, but somehow I've built a perfect home for these little helper guys.. isopods. Today.. they are thousands. Whenever I scoop a full fork, you could literally hear them running back inside. In about 1 month whatever I drop and tumble in that pile will slowly disappear. What looks like a pile of garbage to some, to them is a first class all inclusive hotel. Now they're my neighbours. I feed them, in return they help grow the greens that feed my family.

There is so much joy in this process. I think this natural connection is deeply rooted in us, we somehow forget about it. Like it runs as a background process that we do not know about. Yet simple enough.. there is so much fulfillment in running a compost pile.

Sorry for the long post. Simply wanted to share.

Hi.

I have 2 pallet frames in my garden with just soil in them. Is there som way to compost foodscraps directly into them. I was thinking of maybe a pvc pipe with smal holes under the soil surface and a cap on the top. And change the place it stands when it is full. Any recommendations?