Regenerative gardener Sabrina Peters kicks off with the single most important number: your pile needs a 30:1 ratio of carbon (“browns” like dry leaves, straw and shredded paper) to nitrogen (“greens” like fresh grass clippings, kitchen scraps and manure). She weighs an example of fresh grass at 40 pounds to make the point that a few buckets of clippings can overpower your browns unless you add enough carbon. Aim for roughly three parts browns by volume to one part greens. Next comes layering and moisture. Start with a base of coarse woody stems or small branches to create air channels at the bottom. Alternate about four inches of greens with 12 to 16 inches of browns. After each layer, moisten to the consistency of a wrung-out sponge. Too dry and microbes stall; too wet and the pile goes anaerobic, smells sulfurous and turns slimy. Peters keeps a pump sprayer at hand for even coverage. Turning frequency depends on how hot you want it. To hit 130–160°F and kill weed seeds, turn the pile every three to five days. Peters uses a two-bin system: while one pile heats up, she builds another, then swaps them. If you’re fine with slower decomposition, turn every two weeks. She tracks temperatures with a long-stem compost thermometer and says you shouldn’t let the core drop below 100°F for extended periods. She closes by troubleshooting three common issues. Smelly, compact piles need more browns and air; dry, slow piles need water; and cold, inactive piles need either more greens or coarser browns for airflow. A quick table shows optimal C:N ratios: leaves at 60:1, straw at 80:1, grass clippings at 20:1, kitchen scraps at 15–20:1. Follow these steps and you’ll get rich, dark humus in two to three months.