On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 18:34:11 -0400, Allan Matthews
wrote:

discarded pallets, stood them upright and wired the corners so I have
a bin about 5 feet square and 3 1/2 feet high. Yesterday I got four
bales of moldy hay that was left in the field last year. Put about 6
inches in the bottom of the bin then started mowing lawn and bagging
clippings. I moistened the hay then layered grass clippings and moldy
hay until the bin was full. Grass was also moist..Appreciate any
suggestions.

That's a really ingenious and inexpensive way to make a compost bin.
Also use any vegetable or fruit kitchen scraps, plus eggshells and
even brown paper grocery bags. Perhaps you could pile it all up once
a week and run over / bag it with the lawn mower

When I first started composting it was great to see less going in the
garbage...I was able to cut the weekly garbage load in half just by
starting a compost bin...we are usually the only house with a
half-full SINGLE can on our street on garbage day. The compost
doesn't hang around for long, at least not in the warm
weather....sometimes it's gone within 2-3 weeks if dug under properly.
At an average of 10 lbs of scraps each week, in the past 4 years I
figure we've kept a full ton of scraps from going in the landfill and
staying in the garden.

Dan