Am I doing it right?

I just bought a soilsaver compost bin and set it up last week. I've layered in browns and greens and some orange peels to keep ants at bay. It was sunny the first day, and has rained ever since. I opened the bin yesterday and there's a bunch of flies and it smells a bit. Is that OK? Do you think it's maybe too wet? Too much fruit? (not that there was much in there)

amynh, if it's less than 3 ft in diameter like my soilsaver (bought at costco) is, then it's not likely to heat up enough to make a "hot" pile; in other words, you don't have to go to the bother of "building" it but can just use like a cold pile. Which will take lots longer to turn into compost. With lots of kitchen waste it will probably be sort of stinky, though. And I'm afraid the orange peels didn't do a thing to keep ants away from my bin.

Sorry. That's probably not what you wanted to hear.

amynh, I have worm bins, and everytime I put any kind of fruit or fruit peels on top I get fruit flys. so I bury the stuff under the surface. lol hostajim1

OK. It's lost it's funky smell, but the fruit flys are still present. I guess I won't worry too much about it. Just wanted to know that it's doing it's job.

Thanks all!