So far we've added egg shells, avocado peels and pit, hair (I have three daughters and a wife ... lots of hair), toilet paper rolls, dryer lint, shredded paper and a shredded cereal box. Since I'm doing this with my daughter I plan on treating it like a big science project and plan on composting all sorts of weird stuff. I also have a huge supply of horse poop (my 9 year old takes horseback riding lessons), coffee grounds (I'm on a first-name basis with a local coffee shop and they said that if I bring in a container they'd be happy to fill it with grounds), grass clippings and leaves. Oh, and I only used 1 bale of straw to start this pile. I have two left.
Since I live in Raleigh, NC I figure I can compost pretty much year round. I started this so I can slowly start amending my back yard "soil" (it's all clay). I laid Bermuda grass sod three years ago (this stuff will creep across concrete) yet it's pretty much died off in the clay. I figure that over the next 100+ years of persistent composting and top-dressing the lawn I should be able to make some progress. In general, I'm not patient but for stuff like this I'm incredibly patient. I also started this because I know my youngest will help me. She knows it's her duty to take the "stuff" to the pile every night.

Anyway ... no real question... just new here and felt like rambling.

I too just started composting. I recently bought a house with a huge lawn (which I am slowly downsizing). I hate to think of sending the clippings to the landfill. My pile heated up on day three but has since cooled way down. Moisture seems to be ok so I will turn it a few times to see what happens. Unfortunately, most of the other plant life I have doesn't produce much in the way of browns. I may have to let some of the grass dry out to mix with the green. I do have quite a bit of citrus although I dont think the pile could handle much of that.

How do you know when the process is complete? Is it fairly obvious?

Great forum. Enjoyed the "Beer in Compost" thread.

For browns, you can solicit leaves from friends/neighbors. Non-glossy paper, napkins, paper towels, and cardboard are browns.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think grass is always a green, even if it's baked dry in the sun before adding. As long as you've mowed before the grass has made seeds, grass clippings are great for putting (not too thickly) right on flower/veg beds, no composting needed. You might want to do that every few mows, especially during the summer when browns are sparse. In the fall, we use the mower to chop & bag the leaves with grass, which goes directly on beds, also, about 2-3" thick.