Meandering Process of My Compost

It has been a very dry winter.  The snow that usually covers the leaves enough to break them down didn't come.  

Today I was puttering and cleaning out all that we "stashed behind the garage" during the winter.  A broken chair that needs dumped; tree branches and left over leaves then...I spotted it.  

Why had I not thought of this before?

Drum roll please...

The wire dog kennel (that had been home to baby chicks) situated on it's side (because I didn't know what to do with it) and the small piece of chicken wire that I couldn't part with.  

And...TA.. DA...  

Compost bin!  

I think it has great potential.  When on its side the front door becomes a drop down door and the tray is now under it with two bricks propping the kennel up a few inches.   Wrapping the chicken wire around as far and up as it would go and securing with zip strips should keep most of it inside.

Now for the layers of brown/green and water to get the process going.  I looked around.  Brown very dry stuff everywhere as I looked at the leaves accumulated along the back.  

First I gathered corn stalks, some bits of evergreen branches (from Christmas), bark and pine cones and put them in as a foundation that will allow lots of airflow.  Next, I piled armfuls of leaves and sprayed it all with water.  

Searching for green was another matter; that is until I struck gold.  

The tote of crushed corn that was left over from a 4-H pig project used for bird feed was down to dust, bits of corn and some moldy chunks...is this green?  

I don't know but this is an experiment!  I sprinkled that in with the oatmeal stolen from the worm bin.  At this point, I spied the pile of green/gray half rotted grass that was on the new raised bed needing turned.  Turning it showed me spots where it had become matted together so I threw that in.

Finally, I added more brown stuff.  As I raked the leaves off a pile of rocks moved to a corner from a previous owner's project, I found layers of leaves in various stages of compost.  SCORE!  So after sprinkling with water again I added this to the top.  

The compost on the pile of rocks had the best results from last year so I will keep that in the back of my mind as a spot to put garden scraps, grass clippings and leaves this year.  

Has anyone ever composted (on purpose) in window wells I thought as I began cleaning leaves from them.  Hmmmm.... who knows where this could lead.