Hi Friends,
I'm running a small, new composting operation in East TN. I know that the situation of my set up isn't ideal, but I'm hoping to make some improvements. The site itself has essentially been a mud pit, which is unhelpful. When I started here they had windrows that were 2/3 old (basically already composted leaves) and 1/3 wood chips. It seems to me those ratios should be switched as well as adding a better N soure. I dried using mulch rather than wood chips and using cotton seed tailings as a green, but now that it's gotten cold and wet, I can hardly get my piles above 70 F. We're not permitted yet to take food scraps and my bosses don't want to use any manures, so for now I'm confined to yard waste type raw materials. I'm thinking when I get a couple dry days that combining the rows into bigger ones would help to better insulate. Also, I use an aero master turner. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
Clare
