of Composting
in a Northern California suburb
What is the right mix of leaves, freshly mown grass and kitchen waste?
I have seen many answers to this question on the web. 
A mess only gardeners can appreciate. Surprisingly, the smell is not offensive. I mainly smell the sweet fermentaion of the apples. It is colder today (54*F ) and the pile has cooled down accordingly to about 115*F, but it is now 5 degrees warmer than it was on Day 3 when the night time air was about the same ambient temperature.
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Scientifically, you want your finished pile to have a 25-30: 1 Carbon:Nitrogen ratio.
Does that mean 25 shovel-fulls of leaves (Carbon/browns) to one shovel of fresh grass clippings (Nitrogen/greens)? No. It is much closer to equal amounts than you might guess. But not exactly.
For example:
13 kg of dried leaves and 8 kg of fresh food scraps with 10 kg freshly mown grass clippings will achieve 60% moisture and a 30:1 C/N ratio.
Most literature recommends a moisture content of 50%-60%. That means if you put your entire pile on a scale, half of the weight should be water.
You don't have to weigh anything - does anyone? except those agro-scientists...
Just remember the ratio:
a little more than 1/3 leaves, (add chopped twigs)
a little less than 1/3 freshly mown grass and/or chickity-doo-dah
1/3 kitchen waste - scraps added and burried daily
I jump-started my pile with store bought fully composted nitrogen-rich chicken manure, because we don't have a lawn. It's cheep! (sic)
It's the weekend...so time to look for neighbors mowing their laws. I saw some magnolia blossoms in a driveway down the road, and that produce worker at safeway had a box of veggie scraps in her cart.
When will this obsession abate? It might be because I'm from Illinois. Yep, a Soil Snob. And I'm now living on top of developer land-fill.
It clumps like clay+concrete mix. No nutrients. No organic anything. Rumour has it that the developers scraped off the richly loamed top soil for money. And back filled it with worthless stoney yuk.
Now it is up to the micro-organisms to restore my backyard balance. On to Day 12