Once my husband finished building the second, larger garden shed, mostly for the storage of large, awkward tools, and including the lawn mower and snow thrower, shovels and items that could not possibly fit into the smaller shed full of my own gardening tools, and necessary winter-protective items, the two composters could no longer be seen. They stood, however, just to the side of the new shed, hidden from view, but readily accessible, where they remain, doing full service.

They've been in steady use for two decades, providing us with excellent compost for the gardens. And in the process, diverting tons of food and garden waste from landfill. Two times weekly the filled kitchen compost pail is taken out to the backyard, in all seasons, and dumped into the composters. One composter at a time; while one rests and cooks away, seasoning into garden-usable compost, the other is being steadily filled.

We hardly have any garbage to be picked up on garbage day, and would have far less if it weren't for packaging materials left over from containing food of one kind or another; juice containers, glass bottles, aluminum cans and all such waste items go into a recycle box, and into another recycle box goes the daily newspapers and any other paper products, to be picked up by the municipality and recycled by them.

At this time of year, while it is crisp and cold in the autumn preparing for change-over into really cold weather, the compost still cooks away merrily. Unlike the winter months when everything goes into deep freeze, including the compost. At this time of year, the tiny flies that seem to congregate within the closed-lid composter emerge in their huge numbers. Earthworms and maggots can be seen throughout the waste, doing their estimable work.

But remove the top of the composter to dump a new load and stand back - quickly, because the hordes of tiny black flies rise like a dark cloud to envelop whoever may be standing there, getting into any open orifices, including a mouth agape in wonder at their presence.