Compost - 140 Degrees - Am I Gonna Die?

I find compost to be a scary subject, my whole life I have thrown food scraps in the trash or down the drain, now I'm going to save them, throw them in the backyard, pray to God...nothing eats my cat and let it winter so I can add it to the garden's soil with some chicken manure that I have been saving aka compost activator. Yummy, can't wait for those tomatoes!

I found this chart which I plan on printing and paste to my refrig, perhaps you might want to do the same. http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html#a (smaller version below)

Benefits

Carbon: leaves leaves breakdown faster when shredded shrub prunings woody prunings are slow to break down straw or hay straw is best; hay with seeds is less ideal pine needles acidic, use in moderate amounts wood ash only use ash from clean materials, sprinkle lightly newspaper avoid using glossy paper or color inks shredded paper avoid using glossy paper or color inks cardboard shred material to avoid matting dyer lint best if from natural fibers corn, cob stalks slow to decompose, chop up sawdust high carbon levels, add in layers to avoid clumping wood chips high levels of carbon, use sparingly Nitrogen: table scraps add with dry carbon items fruit and vegetable scraps add with dry carbon items grass clippings add in thin layers so they don't mat into clumps lawn & garden weeds only use weeds which have not gone to seed green comfrey leaves excellent compost activator flower cuttings chop up any long woody stems seaweed & kelp rinse first; good source for trace minerals chicken manure excellent compost activator coffee grounds filters may also be included tea bags loose or in the bags Neutral: eggs best when crushed ________________________________________________________________________ garden plants use disease free plants only