Shredded newsprint

I think I might have found a bit of a composting gold mine this weekend. While walking through one the company's plants this weekend I found several huge bins of half-inch strips of newsprint. It's the trim from bound newsletters, magazines, etc., but it's unprinted newsprint (not shiny). They actually have to pay to recycle it so they'd be more than happy for me to take some off their hands.

I've never used paper before in my relatively new composting habit. These pieces are probably a half-inch by 20 inches long. Do I need to make it smaller than that? And paper is brown right? I take it with paper I'll have to follow the same rough brown to green ratio, right?

Sounds like you hit the jackpot! Good for you. It will be great!. Just wet it down, you should need to break it down any further. Do paper, add your coffee grounds, kitchen scraps, grass clippings, etc. And cover with mulch

Yes, paper is a brown.

Twonewfs,
Yep, you've got a gold mine. I just layered anew compost pile last weekend. Started with shredded paper strips, much like you described. Be sure to spread them around evenly, 'cause once you dampen the strips they are quite difficult to untangle and thin out. You'll probably need to get down on your hands and knees and sort of shake/sprinkle to get them to untangle. Again, do this BEFORE you wet them, or you'll be a bit sorry...

Then I layered leaves (didn't have any grass clippings at the time, but they'll come soon enough). Sprinkle. Decomping table scraps and coffee grinds. More leaves. Sprinkle. and I'll probably top with two more layers of this week's grass clippings and leaves, ending with the grass clippings. Sprinkle.

My little pile never gets hot, cause it's not big enough. But, I've found that doesn't matter at all, 'cause my industrial strength earthworms go to town because of the scraps and the coffee grinds. It gives them super human strength to churn all the soil and the greens and browns into black gold!

P.S.S. You can actually construct your compost bin on top of an existing bed you want to prepare/recondition for planting.

See the thread about the easier, no work composting in place....

I did two raised beds the same way last weekend. I'lll top them off with a mixture of some Pro Mix, manure and some cheap topsoil mixed together. Then I'll sow my seeds in that soil bed, and let 'er rip! The bed will actually be built on top of the compost pile and will benefit from what the decomp and worms are doing below. It should be nicely broken down with good nutrients by the time the roots start reaching downward!

Good luck.

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