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On Feb 12, 2007, at 1:56 PM, Doc Lisenby wrote:

> Yeah Jim, that should work where the ambient temperature doesn't allow
> oxidation/fermentation by as many microbes as are present in warmer
> climates.  . . .  Temperatures of compost piles should be in the 70
> to 90ºF for the most efficient production of the desired organic soil
> additive.

And here I thought compost was supposed to get hot enough to "cook"  
and kill disease organisms.  Do you add a "let it get hot" stage at  
the end, or just not worry about that?

I "compost" by dumping leaves in a heap every fall, and tossing dead  
plants, old veggies, and other vegetable matter onto the leaves.    
Once in a blue moon my husband turns the stuff over.  It never  
smells.  I'm in eastern Mass, so not as cold as Jim, but cooler than  
you.  We occasionally have trouble with old jack-o-lanterns, for  
instance, attracting deer and other undesirables, but otherwise it  
seems fine.  Of course, my purpose is more to get rid of leaves and  
garbage than to create soil, but I have dug some dirt out of the pile  
form time to time.

Ginda