Leaf piles and a new compost method

My daughter has been excited about autumn. She's always enjoyed kicking leaves around but this is the first year we've had our own yard. Turns out she was excited about the idea of jumping in a huge pile of leaves! So far, the leaves have been falling slowly. I managed to rake together a moderate size pile of leaves but nothing all that big. This weekend, the temp is dropping and leaves are falling heavily. When she comes over this weekend, the leaf pile should be about three times larger than last weekend. I don't mind raking the pile back together for her, long as she's having fun.

Of course, as she becomes bored with it and the leaves atsrt breaking down, I'll run the composting mower over them and add them to the compost pits. 

Like most compost pits, my own looks like it may be lacking in Nitrogen, now that it's autumn and heading into winter. However, right now I'm actually happy for all the clover in the yard. It's still bright green and there's enough of it to up the N content to a decent enough amount to keep the pits working well for some time. I also drink lots of coffee and grind the beans to powder (turkish grind), so that should help, also.


I've also been looking around for what items can be placed in the pits to maintain and maybe increase the N in the compost. Found that parsley has a very high N content (and not too expensive). So, one or two bunches here and there while shopping would be an affordable way to add N to the compost.

Ran across an article and website which went into the subject of colloidal humus compost. With some minor knowledge of chemistry, the name made sense. In truth, all fertilizer is a colloid (suspension) of sorts. The website tries to sell an e-book for $35, which I don't have and probably wouldn't spend that much on, any way. However, it did get me thinking. I generally follow the usual process of cutting items up fairly small before composting them. Wouldn't it be more efficient to place things in a blender? If I turn compostable scraps into a colloid before adding it to the pits, it should speed the whole process along.

Considering trying the above, placing already mixed compost in 5 gal buckets and adding the blended mixture to it, just to see what happens.

I'm also looking into designing a mulching barrel for leaves and grass clippings. If I can get hold of an old electric motor (like a lawnmower motor) blades and a metal drum, I could devise a drum which would grind things up enough to make the process faster and more efficient. Later, I could probably combine that with solar power to run the motor. I know, chipper/shredders exist but I'm thinking of reducing the particles more than that does. If things are reduced enough, composting may not be really necessary. Long as the raw materials are mixed together well. That would be something for a later limited experiment. It does seem to me that spreading well broken down materials would have the result of turning the entire yard or garden into a compost heap. Only the heaviest and most compacted residual material would have to be composted.