The news is all depressing, or worse - Operation Swarmer in Iraq, Dirk Kempthorne is indeed Bush's nominee to replace Gale Norton as head of Interior, each of our shares of the national debt is now $30,000 (every man, woman and child of us), that we seem to be involved now in War Unending, oh - you know, just...the news. Daily life on this planet we call home.
But it's spring, the news notwithstanding. My daffodils are nodding in the chilly breeze, the japanese quince is wildly blossoming, yesterday I drove past a weeping willow tossing its softly leafing bright green branches, and the robins are rollicking all over the yard. It's also St. Patrick's day, and the 23rd anniversary of my very Irish mother's death. For all of these reasons it seems to me a good day to post one of those entries from last year's journal, one of my favorite entries, as it happens:
(April 2005) I have been composting for as long as I can remember. My parents (avid gardeners, both of them - my father grew vegetables and fruit trees, my mother grew herbs and the most amazing flowers) composted all through my life with them, and it was a natural step to start my own compost heap as soon as I was no longer living in boarding school or university dormitories.
Composting is actually, yes really, one of my chief pleasures in life. Does this sound as if I have a wretched life? Well, maybe - but there is something about taking what would be regarded as trash and seeing it turn into living soil, full of earthworms and unseen beneficial bacteria, that is equaled by little else. It's working with nature, to create life. Or, as the I Ching says:
-- "Man's work with Nature that furthers Nature's aims is the work that rewards him the best."
My compost is composed of garden waste (weeds that have already made seeds are put in a pile way in the back of the yard, to remain there for unknown ages, until the seeds are cooked out), grass clippings, fallen leaves that have been mulched so they're in smaller pieces, kitchen scraps of a vegetable or fruit nature (no meat scraps), eggshells, coffee grounds, tea bags. My favorite form of compost container is a chicken wire pen, but as we live in an area with critters who would pull such a pile apart, here I have a bin of plastic slats and removable top. The finished compost is pulled out of the bottom of the bin - not the most convenient or accessible method, I have to admit.
My old bin was destroyed in Hurricane Isabel, when a crape myrtle tree was knocked over onto it. I'd had it since we lived on Cape Cod - we actually moved both bin and compost down here. Imagine that.
The best site I know for more information than you could possibly absorb is on Journey to Forever. Both the preceding picture and I Ching quote come from that site. Once you get into it, you won't want to leave for a long time - be forewarned.
Last year I wrote an entry about Tim Dundon, "The Compost Guru." He built a 30 foot-high pile of compost, over a period of thirty-five years, in an L.A. suburb. It's an amazing story, one that really hit my soft spot. You can read his story here, on the wonderful Path to Freedom site. In the sidebar to Tim's story are more compost links. Be sure to browse the picture galleries, they are worth more than all the words I could write for you. (The links to Tim's story and pictures no longer seem to work, but I found another story that does still work here, The Gospel of Compost.)
Tim's story has a sad ending, however. He had built this heap on a piece of land owned, but unused, by a cemetary. He had offered a large sum of money to buy the land, but had been refused. Despite the fact that a good compost heap has absolutely no offensive odor at all, apparently his neighbors had long wanted to find a way to get rid of him. Last month his pile was bulldozed and spread out on the land, which is probably going to be used for development. Tim is selling his own land and moving elsewhere. To start afresh (so to speak), I'm sure.
Few of us may have room, or time, to achieve a thirty foot living mountain of compost like Dundon, The Compost Guru. But many of us have an environment to tend in our own back yard - put your hand in the hand of Mother Nature, and build that glorious heap! Nothing is more rewarding, nor has so many uses. Even if you don't have a garden, it can be used as very beneficial mulch around trees and shrubs, as potting soil for both indoor and outdoor plants. However, digging it into garden beds creates minor miracles over time, problem soils of all kinds appreciate it. Within a few seasons thin sandy soils or thick clay beds will become rich organic matter producing healthy beautiful crops, flowers and herbs.
regarded as trash and seeing it turn into living soil, full of earthworms and unseen beneficial bacteria, that is equaled by little else. It's working with nature, to create life. Or, as the I Ching says:
