Composting through the winter

[rray]

Can composting still be done through very cold winter months? I've looked for resources and haven't been able to find any covering winter months. We are in Maine with a couple feet of snow on the ground.

[Watchman]

In Wyoming its also COLLLLLLDDD! This is what we do, though its not complete. There is a narrow section of ground (maybe 12-18 inches) next to our home and that ground usually doesn't freeze due to the warmth radiating from the house. I bury "raw compost" (peelings, coffee grounds, etc. from our bucket in the kitchen). Just shovel out a hole and put the scraps in. It enriches the soil and come spring I can shovel it out for use elsewhere or for flowers. Works good. Another thing you can do is save your egg shells - you need them for calcium in the garden. Put them in a container and freeze them until spring. Another possibility (which I haven't tried) is WORMS. I read that you can raise them in the basement in containers and they will eat the scrap materials. As you all know, worm casings (poop) is the richest of almost all garden additions. I would imagine you could then release them into the garden or sell them.

[WillyPete]

Best I recall, composting creates its own heat within the pile that will allow the composting to continue all through the year. I would imagine though that if outdoor temps get down low enough, the process would be retarded or completely shutdown until it warms back up outside. Don't know how accurate that is of course.
I have seen steaming piles of compost at various locations during winter conditions, looked like they were putting out more than enough heat to keep active regardless of outside temps.
One way to find out for certain, put a compost pile outside somewhere where it will be fully affected by winter weather and see what happens.

[Toepopper]

Adding some raw manure to the compost heap will create heat and help to break down the materials being composted. It helps to turn the pile over every couple of weeks if its not frozen solid like an ice cube.

[rray]

I thought it would stay hot through the year as well but I noticed a slow down and cool down(inside the pile) from what I had all summer, which was the steaming that I expected. I think I'll dig into my compost and see what it looks like under all the snow. I've considered getting a large trash can to just stockpile all the scraps until things start thawing out.
I like the idea of worms to chew it up until spring, that can be an interesting experiment!
Thanks for all the input.