permaculture

[Jennifer Peltier <peltier@isi.edu>]

When you compost with paper are you turning the pile with any
regularity (once a week or more)?  Also, paper is considered a "brown"
material or source of carbon.  As you observed when layers of paper
are too thick they will mat up in the compost pile.  My suggestion is
to build layers of roughly the same amount of "green" (nitrogen
sources) and brown materials.  Build one layer consisting of brown and
then green material, wet down just to dampen (don't soak) and then
stir the layers together before building another layer.  Continue
until the bin is full.  Turn this pile at least once a week and wet as
needed.  One should obtain good compost within 6 weeks. In addition
a good manageable pile that reaches the adequate temperatures for
decomposition is 3'x3'x3' (27 cu.ft.).  I have made compost that
consisted of newspaper and manure only and it was wonderful.  

Glad to hear the paper is working well as a mulch for your plants.  I
have used newpaper for this and also dried grass clippings.  It really
extends the time between watering for my veggies.  

Take care, Jennifer