Grass Clippings

loupiscopolandscaping said:

A friend of mine asked me the other day what are the pros and cons of dumping small amounts of grass clippings in a large hole at his farm... he said the hole is approx 40X20ft and 8ft deep. hes thinking of dumping a yard of grass clippings every week... he also stated he'd fill in the hole and the end of the year with soil........i know its illegal and the fines are steep!

Click to expand...

What's wrong with initiating a compost pile...at the bottom of this 8' hole?

Have the friend lay down a thin layer his grass clippings...
Then spread a relatively thin layer of farm soil on top of that...
Again, another layer of grass clippings...
Maybe some horse / cow manure on top of that...
Another thin layer of soil...
Some leaves from the yard, sawdust from the workshop...
Another layer of grass clippings...
Non-meat/dairy food scraps from the house...

Continue this until the 8' hole is filled completely to the brim & then top off with a layer of soil, and mark the original circumference of the hole in some manner.
As thermophilic composting occurs, this in-ground pile will shrink & slowly collapse upon itself like a sink hole.
I imagine in about 2 or so years upon finishing, the entire contents would be ready to be pulled out with a backhoe and be 'harvested'.