I just moved to Arkansas and my property has about a dozen 60ft tall pine trees on it. As you can imagine I get plenty of pine needles and pine cones that are dropped from these trees. I am looking to start my very first venture into composting and I was wondering if I can put pine cones/needles in the compost pile?

JLB:
I'd say yes because they are native to the area and soil makeup.
You may have to grind up the pine cones so they break down faster.

JLB,

Don't overlook the value of that pine straw as a very attractive (IMO)mulch for your planting beds.

The lawn mower is a great tool for chopping up pine cones, large leaves, pine needles, or even lots of newspapers for a faster start for decomposition in a compost pile.

Since pine products are high in cellulose carbon, make sure to add plenty of high nitrogen materials to your pile to speed up the decomposition. If you can, use stuff like grass clippings, some grain meals like corn meal or cattle/horse feeds, or dry molasses powder to get things heated up faster.