I cleaned my gutters this summer, including one that was hard to reach and hadn't been done for a couple of years. I found that there were very few leaves in it - it had all turned to rich soil! That got me started on making my own compost pile. But instead of just tossing things in a pile, I took some old heating ductwork and made small metal enclosures for it. That worked really well because it trapped the sun's heat and it seems to be breaking down quicker.

A side benefit is I have less waste to toss in the garbage each week - it goes into my homemade composting bin instead. Looking forward to using this for gardening material this spring.