My first real encounter with the principle of composting came when I was a child on a farm in Harnett County, NC. This story is a little gross but it makes the point on how something undesireable and useless can actually become something of great value! Don't worry, I'll give the sanitized version.
Oh Gross!
Growing up, we, did not have indoor plumbing so we had outdoor toilets. At night, we had what was known as slop jars. They were kept under the bed and were used when we had to "take care of business".
The contents of the slop jars or pots as we called them was dumped into a field near the house. Now as a child I, thought that section of ground was really gross and never wanted to get anywhere near it! I didn't understand why my parents would want to mess up a perfectly good patch of land with that mess! Yuck! Later on my father planted soybeans there and they grew like crazy! This was puzzling to me until my father explained that the yucky refuse from the slop jars actually broke down, blended into the soil and became great fertilizer.(click here to read a humorous story about slop jars)
Later, my father assigned me to another gross task. He would have me to take the manure from the cow stable to spread in the fields before planting. Of course manure also breaks down to make great fertilizer! When I first started gardening, I went to a local horse farm and got all the free "fertilizer" that I could load into my truck! I had the prettiest flowers on my street as a result! My father would have been so proud!
Put simply, composting occurs all the time in nature as leaves and trees and fruit fall to the ground, break down and return to nature to feed the trees and plants. Compost is a mixture of decaying organic matter, as from leaves and manure, used to improve soil structure and provide nutrients (fertilizer). From freedictionary.com
Typically, to make compost you would take any organic waste from the kitchen such as vegetable and fruit peelings and cores, coffee grounds, coffee filters, etc put it in a bin and mix with dirt, green matter such as green grass and leaves and brown matter such as dried grass and leaves.
I was reintroduced to the concept of compost when I began to garden. As I began to read about composting I learned that compost is a terrific way to provide nutrients for flowers and vegetables! In fact, I learned that compost is an amazing fertilizer, far superior to synthetic fertilizer.
Two things surprised me about compost:
1-It's Odorless! As compost is mixed properly and breaks down completely, it becomes virtually odor free to the point that you can actually pick it up and spread it with your hands!
2-It turns to dark and rich! It amazes me to think that this mushy multicolored, nasty mess breaks down and turns to a dark, uniform and rich soil! Everything comes from the soil and everything breaks down and returns to the soil. The more I learn about the ways of God in nature, the more amazed I become at his handiwork!
Stay tuned for part 2.
In the meantime if you want to learn how to compost this article, about composting keeps it simple:
No comments:
Post a Comment