AutumnAuburn,
How big is your pile? (that sounds funny!)
Are you in a city or rural area?
Problems with critters?
I'm really curious about this idea of putting the so-called no-no's in the pile!

I have friends near Bellingham, WA, who do a very hot compost pile, where they pile up Everything- including weeds, dog and human feces (!), in straw-bale lined bins. So yes, this can be done... The key to doing this kind of composting successfully is to get the compost VERY hot, and it takes maintence to be sure that the pile gets hot enough throughout to kill all microbes and weed seeds. And they wait a whole year before they use the compost.
For the backyard composter, this obviously would not be appropriate, because most compost piles do not get hot enough or get enough attention.
My general rule for what goes in: Organic veggies great, even citrus (may not compost for a while, don't put too much in at first), best if it's chopped into smaller peices, eggshells and coffee grounds are GREAT, no meat or dairy besides eggshells and nothing too oily (especially for worms).

I do work trade with Orr Hotsprings.. For my bath tickets I rake leafs and they let me turn the compost piles. Oh man they have the richest compost I've ever seen in my life... Huge piles the size of a car. So hot you can feel it. Filled to the brim with microbes and alllll kinds of worms and insects. Some I can't even identify... It's sooo rich cuz most of it is kitchen scraps... Super wet and juicy... I can't even tell you how excited I get when they say I can turn em.... My favorite job ever...... If you ever go there and do work trade for bathing... Ask if you can turn the compost.... You'll never forget it....

I don't have a compost pile now, but I grew up always having one, and we always composted all food items, including meat, dairy and citrus, and we always had wonderful compost.

The one thing I would say is don't put in manure unless you are running a "hot" compost pile, so it can kill any microbes. We were just piling things in a pile, not turning it or anything, so we didn't put manure in.

I had two compost piles (because we needed more than one!), both made out of the biggest garbage cans I could carry out of Home Depot. I lived in the suburbs and had tons of cardboard, shredded paper and yard waste. Kitchen scraps comprised a relatively small percentage of my compost. Probably 1/8-1/5... The vast majority was other biodegradeable household waste (snotty tissues, paper qtips, used cotton balls, hair from hairbrushes, etc, anything that didn't get flushed) and yard clippings... A lot of yard clippings...

I was looking into composting humanure and figuring out how we could do that, when I ended up moving. Now I'm in the city and a worm bin is all I'll be able to do.

whilst it's true that fishmeal is an extremely effective fertilizer, by virtue of the fact that fish as living creatures are composed of very little fat and very high quantities of protein. However whilst they are very high in protein building elements (i.e. N, P and S) as well as many other essentials I would aver that this is no more so than for ones own grandmother... I would therefore argue that to kill a fish just to let it rot is as agreeable as doing the same to ones granny.......

In truth its not about what you can and cannot put in to compost (with the exception of toxins) but whether the ingredients balance. Also it is what your definition of compost extends too.....

For example the growth in factory farming of chickens has, due completely to the inhumane conditions these living (and I would argue sentient) creatures are subjected too, results in chicken farms having huge quantities of unfit chicken carcasses (animals that die in their thousands within the cramped stinking environment of the 'modern' broiler shed) which are difficult to dispose of....... consequently both in the States and the UK work (under the guise of science) has been undertaken to see whether such 'organic' material can be composted.......

So for those of you without compassion the answer is yes....... you can compost just about anything (granny, grandad and all your kin), or if you leave a stinking mess long enough nature will cure it for you......

I trust therefore that those of you who aver differently (as humans recognise the sentience of fellow creatures and so act not like them but higher than them: i.e treat them humanely) as vegetarians you don't have this problem.......

regards,

greenman-23

I'm so glad to have found this tribe, who else talks about this stuff?
I moved to a new home in August and got a late start on the compost pile. Green metal stakes with chicken wire to keep the pile from migrating. Lots of lawn clippings, leaves and kitchen trash. The weather has been mild, in the 50s for the most part. I noticed the last time I turned it that it was nice and black with just a few recognizeable bits. Next to this enclosure is another in which I keep leaves for mulch.
We seem to have an abundance of leaves. Can I compost the ashes from burning them?