Composting help?!

I'm not an authority, but I have a drum composter with a handle and have successfully produced compost with it, albeit slowly. (I don't have a lawn, so have to manage without grass clippings.) As I understand it, the most important factor is getting the nitrogen/carbon, or green/brown ratio right, so the compost will "cook". As the manual that came with my composter says, "Using four parts of fresh green material to every one part of dead brown material is a great recipe..." Ensure that the batch stays moist but not wet and that you have enough materials to get the whole process going. Warmth helps too, which is the least of your worries if you live in Southern California! Also make sure the kitchen scraps are chopped finely before you throw them in, otherwise they take forever to break down. You can use an activator or several shovels full of horse manure to kick start the composting. Another thing I just learned, although I haven't yet tried it, is that the plant comfrey is a great ingredient for the compost bin because it also helps to activate the process of decomposition... I think it has a high nitrogen content. But if you decide to grow comfey, make sure you get the one called "Bocking 14 Cultivar" or Russian Comfrey (it's started from a root cutting instead of from seed), as it will not self sow and become a pesky weed. Lastly, you might want to consider attending one of the workshops on composting hosted by the County of Los Angeles: http://ladpw.org/epd/sg/ I'm planning to attend one myself this weekend so I can learn about worm composting... a whole other topic!