Dear Enchanted Gardener: This is amazing that you posted this, as 3 days ago I decided, finally, to start a compost pile at my house. Years ago, I managed to reduce the "regular" trash from our house from 4 barrels to 1 barrel a week, not bad for 4 people, by recycling everything I could--not just the usual stuff but paper products and scrap metal, too. I had been despairing about the 1 to 3 trash barrels full of "green waste" that get thrown out weekly from my house, after the gardeners do their thing with mowing and trimming the property's crowded foliage. I read an article in the newspaper about mulch, and how it can be made from green "waste" that ususally ends up in landfill--anything from kitchen food scraps to newspapers to ground up leaves, grass clippings, and trimmed tree branches. Of course, I already knew that, and you have been nudging me for years to start my own compost in the backyard, but suddenly it hit me that this is what I wanted to do. The soil in my yard desparately needs new nutrients--it dries to a hard clay and the water just runs off of it; my trees and plants are malnourished. Why should I go out and buy mulch, when I can make it myself by composting from my own yard and kitchen "waste"? Thank you for your continued inspiration. Your friend, Liora Leah