The leaves in the yard were abundant and I had read that to start a compost pile off, put in dry leaves and a little dirt, then add the "green" stuff such as recently cut grasses or leaves that are still green or anything wet such a kitchen scraps. We put in kitchen scraps that I had been saving, peelings from cucumbers, potatoes, carrots or any other vegetable that needed to be peeled. Pieces of broccoli stalks, onion peels and any produce that was going bad in the refrigerator. We also added our daily coffee grinds and tea bags as well as shredded paper.
At some point during that first few weeks, our neighbor donated some horse manure that was piling up in his yard from their horse. We mixed that in and added a few garden scraps as they became available.
We were very dilligent, at first, watering the compost pile every time we watered the garden and turning the compost each week, but that kind of slacked off after a while. We stopped adding materials to the bin after about 2 months because we knew that eventually we would want to take the compost out and use it, which we wouldn't really be able to do with large clumps of undecomposed materials in it.
For the most part, the compost bin has been untouched since, roughly, late July or early August. It has condensed itself down a few feet with all of the rich, decomposed materials in there, so it should be ready to use in the next garden. I can't wait to mix all that black, rich goodness into this new garden spot.
A few sites I found helpful:
Composting101
Composting for Organic Gardening
A great and very informational site from the Garden of Oz
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