Native Organic Gardening 101: Composting

I am going to try to start something new because I feel I need a little direction with this blog. Every Monday, I will write about something that I have found helpful in making our yard into the hackyard habitat that it is today. I will put a disclaimer in first of all, that none of this stuff is researched, these are things that I have done that work in my yard. I do not guarantee any of the same results.
The first topic I will cover is my compost pile. I do not think that I would have near the same results that we have had in our yard without it. My husband made ours from an old dog kennel we had in the backyard. It is pretty big, maybe about 6'x8'. They do not have to be that big. It is chain link and we have it covered in trumpet vine to make it more aesthetically pleasing. It does not smell, although every once in a while it gets a little odor if you are close to it, usually right after it has rained alot. I do not really turn it. When I need soil from it, I push aside the top layers and dig it from the bottom, then I cover the hole I just made with the stuff I scraped off. That has worked pretty well at keeping it circulated.
What I put in it:
fruits (old fruit, pieces I may have cut off, cores)
vegetables (the ends of veggies I have cut off, layers of lettuce I have peeled away, potato peels)
eggshells
all yard clippings (grass from the mower, clippings from trimming back plants, even weeds I have pulled)
I think it is a healthy compost pile because I have tons of bugs in it. There are thousands of earthworms! These are a double benefit because when I use the soil in my gardens, the earthworms go in it also, and help keep it aerated. The compost pile is very close to my gardens in the backyard and I have very few bugs in it. I think they just prefer the compost pile to the plants in the garden. I don't even have bugs on my tomatoes!
You can involve your kids in it also. My son loves to take stuff out to the compost pile and throw it in there, and he is 13. He even did a school project on how to make one and informed me that the mushrooms growing in it are a sign of a healthy compost pile.
All of plants in the backyard are huge and healthy and I could almost promise it is because they get the soil from the compost pile. Everything that is back there grows out of control and gets bigger than what I have seen anywhere else.
I will put some pictures in of portions of our yard that we have used compost and haven't used it. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Here is a part of our yard we resodded and used the compost as a base for it and then sprinkled it over.


Here is a part of our yard that we didn't use it.


This is one our back flowerbeds with compost.


This is a front flowerbed without it. The plants in it are not near as healthy and somewhat anemic looking.

Now I know there are many more things that factor into how plants grow, etc. However, there is such a big difference, and in that front flowerbed, I usually use compost, but this year I didn't, and the results have been less than stellar.
And here is the gratuitous picture of Bad Stormy, who by the way, does use the compost pile sometimes. My husband says she is going green.