We moved into our house a few weeks ago, and have quite a deep back
yard, backed by woods. We're sort of halfway between town and country;
it's an old tract neighborhood, but more on the rustic side than the
golf course lawn type of neighborhoods. I have done some marginally
successful bin composting in the past, in the yard of an apartment we
lived in on the west coast. We are now in the northeast, and now that we
have our own property, I want to get into composting more fully.

With winter fast approaching, should I bother to start now, or wait
until spring? I'm thinking of composting household food scraps in the
bin (the Smith and Hawken stacking thing wiht the bi-fold lid) and doing
leaves and grass in a pile. Once I do get up and running, do I continue
adding through the winter, or take a hiatus?

Location - what do I need to consider? Sun? Lots of tall trees.
Drainage? There are some swampy bits here and there. (Questions about
drainage and how to fix that will be a whole 'nother post sometime.) I
was thinking of doing the grass and leaves pile in the woods, just
outside of our fence. Would I need to clear the ground of brush and
vegetation, or just dump stuff on top and go from there? If I were to do
the pile in the yard, would I clear any grass or weeds first?

We have lots of squirrels, rabbits, mice, various northeast woodland
creatures in the vicinity. How do I arrange things so as to *not* set up
a cafeteria, or a nice cozy nest? I'm hoping to go way back in the yard,
but what is the closest one might put a compost area to the house?

I grew up in the northeast, but the little I know about gardening,
composting, etc is all west coast based, as I lived out there in my mid
20's to 30's - almost year-round growing seasons, different plant
selection, etc.

Any advice to get me started is greatly appreciated. Websites, book
recommendations, etc.

Thanks,
Karen