We Make Dirt

yeah. We are wierd that way.
Actually, "making dirt" has been one of the most fascinating natural processes that I have ever experienced in my life (besides the process of childbirth and breastfeeding... which are pretty amazing experiences, too).
Our compost pile starts with grass clippings- lots of them. Add the fallen leaves that get raked up, weeds pulled out of the flower bed, fruit and vegetable peels from the kitchen, tea bags, coffee grounds ...any thing that once grew can go in there. I keep an ice cream bucket (with a lid) in the kitchen to collect scraps. Everything goes into a pile out back. You can buy fancy containers or contraptions for your compost, but we like to do things "au naturale" around here, so we just have a pile. We keep it contained in a wooden fence rigged up from some fencing we took down in another area of our yard. Amazing Man has a nice pitch fork which he uses to turn everything over every day/every other day.
As the natural decomposition process goes into action, that pile heats up! I will never forget the day I watched him turning everything over, and smoke-- billows of smoke wafted up from this pile of cooking "dirt". Amazing! After everything "cooks" down- the end result is dark, rich, moist, fluffy soil that will make happy plants grow.
Making your own compost is really a very easy thing to do. And it is so valuable for the garden and flower beds, and other growing things around the yard. I never would have dreamed that I could be so facinated with "dirt"!