Black Gold

I always grew up composting to lessen waste going into landfills (this is what we did in Maine), but I've never actually used it. My family just had an open compost heap in the yard that slowly grew over the years (compost shrinks a lot while it's decomposing) and we just tossed our food scraps on there willy nilly. They never bothered to reap the fertilizing benefits, or even to turn it over regularly. Or ever. But I bet if they did, they would find some nutrient-rich treasure!

Remember the compost bin that I started back in May? Since then, I've filled that bin up and started a second one. But when I recently went to turn over the contents of that first one with a pitchfork (which hadn't been done in quite a while), I discovered that I had hit the fertilizer jackpot:


But now I just have to decide where to use this stuff. Do I use it as fertilizer for my container plants? For the lawn? As mulch? Any other ideas? Will the dogs get into it?