Em and I sort of half energetically started composting. We did it before in New Jersey with a similar amount of devil may care lackadaisical indifference then, too. But we got compost so in the end, nature overcame our ham-handedness and created from our scraps of organic waste, dirt.
Not dirt, I am told. Dirt lives under your fingernails. We were cultivating soil. Soil, it turns out is essentially the "leavins" of organisms feeding on your organic scraps. Molds, fungi, flies, worms, and the occasional leprechaun all conspire to poop out soil.
It is the circle of life and death, playing out in back yards all across America and indeed, the world. And while we discussed at our "green lunch" all sorts of methods and strategies of turning your crap into, well, different crap, the end result was that nature is doing this all around us. Without our help.
My garage is a perfect example of a structure being slowly composted back to the earth which provided the materials to make it in the first place. How hard can it be to turn some twigs and grass and eggshells and fruits and vegetables into dirt? Sorry. Soil.
Our main concern is space, since it is not the final frontier at all in our yard, it's the non-existent frontier. Also smell. There was a great debate about whether it was acceptable to put meat and fat and manure in your pile. It makes for great soil, but also could make for peeved neighbors when those tradewinds start blowing in their kitchen windows. Also, raccoons and biting flies and mosquitoes have a tendency to hang around piles such as these.
It's kinda like the seedy dive that serves great burgers. You have to decide whether your surroundings are worth the payoff.
A lot to think about. One thing is for sure, I still do not count myself among the hippie tree-huggers, nor am I a chicken little who thinks the sky is falling. But I am fascinated by the natural sciences and I don't care for waste. If I can have a beneficial ongoing biological reactor in my back yard that produces a benefit while reducing the amount of stuff I throw in landfills, I say it is impractical to not take advantage of it.
I have a pretty high carbon footprint as it is. I suppose this is a fun and cheap way of helping give back a little. With all apologies to Martha Stewart, s*it happens; and that's a very good thing.
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