CG composting

s* h*

Hello folks,

I have a question about fairly large-scale composting.  We are a 2 
year old community garden in Phila.  We made a compost bin last year 
 from old shipping pallets and started filling it up with green stuff 
 from our plots, and leaves hauled in from around the neighborhood.  
What we had by the fall last year was a big, very dry (despite all 
the rain) pile of stuff.  Virtually nothing had composted.  When we 
tried to turn it, we discovered that it *had* become the home of a 
large swarm of yellow jackets.  Luckily, no one was bit!

My husband and I compost in our little "yard" at home and get good 
stuff.  He insists on chopping every green bit into small pieces.  
While I don't disagree this helps in breaking the stuff down, with 
the volume at the CG it just doesn't seem practical to ask 
everyone/someone to do this.  How do other CG handle composting?  
Without seeing the compost bin, does anyone have ideas on how the 
design might be improved?  I tried frequent watering at the end of 
the summer season and it didn't seem to help.  suggestions welcome.

-sue
the Brewery Garden
http://members.tripod.com/brewery_garden/

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