Composting

One way to build an inexpensive composting box is to make it out of wood and chicken wire, about 3 feet wide, 15 feet long and perhaps 4 feet high.

Use metal or treated for the four corners and re-enforcing posts every 3 -4 feet on the sides. There should be no bottom (just bare soil over the ground).

Add the composting materials: dry leaves, grass clippings, cotton hulls, straw, fruit peelings, sawdust, vegetables, and manure (clean sacked is fine) in one foot layers.

Kitchen scraps with meat are usually avoided because they give off odors and attract flies, as are any diseased plant parts. Mix in a shovel full of regular garden soil here and there, along with some hybrid earthworms if available.

Between layers, sprinkle well with some 8-8-8 or 5-10-5 commercial fertilizer (about a pound per square foot of compost surface).

This small amount of commercial chemical doesn't count as a directly applied chemical. It acts as a catalyst to speed the decomposing action.

Keep the compost pile moist(VERY KEY ITEM HERE) and use a fork to turn and stir the material every few days to help foster decomposition. Add more clippings as the pile shrinks (decomposes).

When re-starting a compost pile always leave a couple inches of the old compost on the ground to acts as "starter". Depending on the weather and how well you take care of your compost pile, it should be "ready" in 6 to 8 weeks.

Another idea is to mount a barrel so it can be turned daily. Have one made with a door and good latch so it can be turned without its contents falling out. The barrel can either be mounted on rollers or have axles welded on each end and fit into receptacles on a sturdy stand.