haha ! yeah the homemade emulsion isn’t for the weak stomached but the compost w/ fish doesn’t smell at all. yes the pile can get hot but if you keep it spread out to no more than 3ft. thick I’ve read you won’t have a problem and so far i haven’t. . keeping it moist but not soaking also keeps the heat in control. i usually start composting in early spring so still cool out when the compost is cooking. can see steam coming out of it in the morning. not bad idea to keep the pile away from buildings or trees just in case.
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Thanks Clark. Haha all composting is local. Because of our abundant rainfall, the compost pile is almost always wet.
Ummm. Because I’m a whimp and can’t even concept that, let alone be mulching with that. I guess composting is more than local; it can involve other personal issues, LOL.
Whew. I’m not alone, LOL.
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seen a local farmer bury a whole cow that died of pneumonia in a big pile of wood chips and old straw/ manure. by the next fall , about 18 mo. later, the pile was beautiful black soil compost! only the skull/ big bones were found. smaller bones had disintegrated! he never turned the pile the whole time either! buried it with his tractor.
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Or you can use pee from a healthy person 
It is rich in nitrogen, relatively clean and free.
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works great to break down stuff in the compost pile too. 
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Please, please don’t go there again. Find the earlier thread on this subject!
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go where? mans been using urine as a fertilizer for eons. I’m just suggesting its use as a compost amendment. i don’t use it directly on plants. better for the planet than sending it to the waste water treatment facility where it costs the taxpayers to clean it out of the water just to release it back in the watershed. farmers around here use sewage sludge to fertilize their crops instead of chemical ferts. after the nasties are removed its no different than using chicken or cow manure.
I think that Phil is trying to short circuit a rehash of the urine thread, and, maybe because it is kinda off topic. That topic is searchable. 
how is it off topic? we are talking about compost and i said i use it as a amendment. no biggie. not something I’m going to dwell on.
Applied some of my best compost on my prime ark blackberries today. I did not have spare cow manure so this was as good as I can do for now.
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Nice. Looks like lotsa mycelia goin’ on. Have you brought in mushroom spawn for food, or is this random local mushroom mycelia?
Making your own compost, or knowing your sources (and their scrupples regarding long lasting poisons) is ideal.
When you are establishing a bed or creating new beds the need is the greatest for lots of soil feeding compost. Then you get to a tipping point where you can maintain soil fertility with your own garden waste.
Wait. Upon closer inspection that white might be snow (we haven’t had any yet). I assumed you had lots of fungal breakdown going on, but it’s hard to tell.
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Anne,
These are all wild fungi. The fungi are everywhere in the pile and this compost really makes plants grow!
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looks like the chips in my wine cap beds after a few seasons it turns to nice black compost!
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