Last time I poked at my winter compost pile (actually a large black plastic compost "bin" -- bottomless with sliding up doors and a lid), it was still frozen in the middle and I couldn't do much. Today, I was in a hurry so I added and spread another batch of kitchen scraps with brown paper bags and paper towels, etc., then added a bucket of melted rainwater and a pot of bean cooking water. Puttered around the garden and came back and opened the lid to add a dried up bunch of marigold stems... And it was warm -- REALLY WARM.
Hopefully sometime this week, I'll be able to move the pile to another location and completely turn it in the process since I want to plant onion plants and some greens and cabbages/broccoli here.