Compost 101
At the beginning it always starts as chaos… our compost pile when newly made, is an eclectic ensemble of all spent and dying crops, green and dry – a giant salad! Then we mix in some manure from the chicken coop, a few minerals and rock dusts, wood ashes, native clay and old compost as a starter from an older batch. We add the biodynamic compost preparations to the heap when it is built and each time it is turned.
Out of all the jobs and work we do on the farm, composting is my absolute favorite – this is really when cooking and farming come together! I love it – in n’ out, up n’ around. Why? Because it’s fun to make! It’s a big task that makes you feel accomplished and capable, once it’s done.
It also means renewal… life and death, and life and death… and life… A time of cleaning and looking forward to a fresh start. The beginning of digestion in the physical realm but also of all the learnings and experiences of the season. When one brings together the three elements: EARTH (solid stalks, tender plants, rock dusts and soil) WATER, and AIR… a fourth element, HEAT, comes about spontaneously. Really gives you something to think about… The compost heap becomes a living thing.
It is so interesting how the most diverse mix of colors, textures and shapes – when correctly combined and managed – can yield a uniform, stabilizing compound such as black HUMUS…This natural incredible substance loosens tight clays, binds sands together, holds moisture and nutrients in a way that can be readily available to the plants without overload.
This is one of the key elements to successful sustainable agriculture and further real nutrition.
Composting isn’t as hard as it may seem and every farmer should give it a try! Buying compost is simply not the same.