ryan morris

something to keep in mind

berkley did a big composting study, basically found with "windrow" composting that turning it is a waste of energy as the oxygen levels drop back to 2.5% roughly 10 minutes after turning (2.5% resting oxygen content)

If you make bigger piles, try to make them "lasagna"style,  then  you don't need to turn it ever and can keep stacking layers on top

To summarize quickly, there was a study done on biochar innoculation into soil

can't find it off the top of my head but I remember it well, the graph shows an increasing production yield up to the point they stopped adding more and testing it (20%)

the more "economical" range for application is 8-10% by volume (so let's say you want 12 inches down to be "ammended" to 10%, you would need 1.2 inches of crushed/powdered biochar (keep in mind charcoal is 98% air voids 2% carbon, once you crush it volume shrinks so it's a lot if you are doing a large area) spread over the area you wish to amend to 12 inches deep

if you wanted 24 inches deep, you would need 2.4inches of powdered charcoal laid on top then mixed in roughly to get to 10%, additional biochar above 10% will increase production still but around 13% is when the gains start dropping off (still on a positive slope though)

so you can't really "add too much", it was said earlier that raw charcoal will suck up nutrients until it is in synch with the soil, that can be up to 5 years in poor soil with little organic matter...adding raw charcoal and then amending manure really helps as manure is rather loaded and water soluable so a good amount of manure on a field with raw charcoal applied would "lessen" the time for the field to get back into growing condition.

Hope that helps.

if your stove isn't too big the sticks you use should not be too long, what I would do is get a decently deep aluminum bucket/trash can, and when you want to "put out the fire" just grab the sticks and pull them out while they are on fire and have some water in the bottom of your aluminum pail, if the flame isn't too big when you pull the sticks out you can almost blow it out (not always) but if you were to either "dip" the burnt parts in it would immediately extinguish the fire, or you could just drop them in said pail without water (pail should be outside when you do so) and just let the wood sputter out or burn out inside that pail (obv pail shouldn't be expensive)

1 - I would pull it apart like you suggest, but leave the manure uncovered, and "turn" it every few days like you would a compost pile, it's probably already used a fair bit of nitrogen up so that is probably why it isn't hot composting (assumption) however the matted and wet combination is causing layers of anaerobic conditions to exist, so as long as it is wet and matted, you would just be throwing in negative microbes for your garden, so i would suggest just taking the straw off and just fluffing it every so often in the sun (maybe cover with a tarp on days/nights where it is going to rain/be wet) this should dry it out enough and add enough oxygen to it for the anaerobic conditions to be mitigated, and the "smell" should start going more pleasant. The easiest way to tell good composted material from bad without a microscope is the smell, so once you have more of a "forest floor" odor to it, I would think at that point it would be fine to add without issue (if there is still some straw mixed in you could turn it in if you wanted to, if you have any non-composted wood chips in it i would refrain from turning that it though)

2 - if you wanted to "reactivate" it, I would suggest making a new compost pile, and mixing bits of that one in as you build it lasagne(sp) style, this should spread it out enough where it can be incorporated into that new pile and hot compost (you will probably not be able to do it with just that material as it's nitrogen has probably off gassed or  been used up a bit already)

3 - smell is what I rely on the most, when making compost, use the wafting technique at first and if it's strong enough either pleasant or foul for you to pick up the scent with the wafting method (standing a bit back and just wafting air towards your face with your hand) then that indicates a "strong" presence, if you have to get your face nice and close to smell a foul smell, it's gone anaerobic, but is probably salvageable if you turn it then.

Not an expert or anything, just what I've learned from this site and others and what I think might help you, best of luck.

First time poster, take with grain of salt