Pre-Turning Compost Bin Temperature Check - July 2021

I haven't turned my compost bins - nor added accelerator of any type - since last Fall when I piled in the leaves that fell on our lawn.  The good news (I suppose) is that with the air temps up in the 90's recently, the interior of the pile; even the part with the pvc aeration at the bottom, is up near 90 degrees in the lighter green 'steady' category.   I'm no compost expert, but I'm taking the 'steady' category as meaning that there is *some* level of decomposition going on, but, it isn't 'active' cooking.  Since I put these bins in the shade, I know that some effort is required to get the temps up above 100 degrees.

Which leads me to my next steps:  I have a four-part project in the next few weeks.  

First, I'll fork out the contents of both bins.  

Second, I'll add some additional perforated pvc pipes for passive aearation.

Third, I'll soak the Alfalfa Cubes and begin to layer things in.

And fourth, I'll try to pile EVERYTHING into one bin so I can have the second bin on standby for leaf capture this Fall.

I have the PVC pipes on hand from our basement project and the pool last Summer.  But, I still have to get my hands on some alfalfa cubes - which thanks to Nat's Mom - I think I can get soon.  Then, as noted above I'll fork out the whole pile, layer in some soaked alfalfa and pile it back into the bin(s).   

A note about the tip related to using soaked Alfalfa Cubes in the pile?  Came from the same source that I seem to be getting A LOT of my gardening advice/learning from these days:  Erin @ The Impatient Gardener.