Compost!

On Sunday we did a bunch of raking and hauling leaves to the compost pile...we had so many leaves that we overloaded the "to go on" pile and started dumping them down the man-made hill into the woods behind the house. It'll all turn to dirt eventually. I get so irrirated at how our backyard is set up, the former residents dumped a bunch of fill to make a parking area for tractors (he's a landscaper) so there's a ridge at the back of the property that's 5-8 feet higher than the forest floor behind it. Kind of obnoxious, but there's no way to flatten it all out without doing some major terraforming. I'm settling for little by little adding organic fill to even out the slope. Maybe in ten years there'll be enough leaves thrown back there to make a difference, heh.

I checked the compost pile and it's working nicely! All of the stuff I threw in there nearly two weeks ago is actually composting even though it's Autumn and not all that warm. I dug down to the bottom layer and could recognize a few items but they were all black and looking more like rich dirt than kitchen scraps. The only drawback to layering my kitchen waste with leaves and grass clippings is that my compost will be on the acidic side...though I'm sure there's something I can do to help balance it if need be. The important thing is I've saved a lot of material from going to a landfill, and that feels good. Of course tonight after letting the dog out I found her lying in the pile eating some moldy bread. I guess I'll have to make a gate for the enclosure to keep her out, the partial fence isn't enough to discourage her. Drat.