I have been monitoring my two compost bins to see how well they retain their heat now that we are at the end of December and it goes down into the 20s at night. For the past three weeks the piles are holding at 60 - 65 degrees, which is great.
I am still adding small amounts of coffee grounds, obtained from the break room at work. I bring home about a quart of grounds per week, so it isn't much. I do scratch them into the top of the pile but I cannot imagine that they are adding much to the biology of the pile.
I could turn the pile and possibly generate more heat but the last time I did that I noticed a lot of worms have moved up into the pile and I don't really want to disturb them again. If the pile stays above freezing, the worms will stay active and do as much work as the bacteria would do. The added benefit of the worms is that they produce additional fertilizer through their castings.
This is the best compost setup I have had and I will get a lot of finished compost by summer, it would appear. I will need it since I built three new beds and will want to add copious amounts of compost to them in the spring.
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