The Compost Files

Quote of the Day:
"By daily dying I have come to be."
~ Theodore Roethke ~

A compost pile can be built anywhere by anyone. All you need is a shovel, container or bin, water, chopped organic refuse like weeds, manure, vegetable scraps, grass, leaves, hay and soil. A pitchfork comes in handy for turning the pile over. Turning should be done at least once a week to aerate and encourage decomposition of the materials. The whole mess should heat up, 'cook', and eventually become great soil.

You maybe wondering how a compost pile can be the inspiration for a blog. After working with compost, I think I can honestly say that tending a pile of this 'stuff' is a lot like doing the work needed to clean up the beliefs and programs which shape our view of what is called "reality." Manure from the Sacred Cows, the bits and pieces of what we eat and swallow as the truth, the emotional water we pour on the pile, all of this and more builds an inner compost pile which can either stick to high heaven or, if tended with Truth and Objectivity, produce some wonderful fertilizer for the nascent soul or real personality.

Most people would be very insulated if you told them they were being compared to compost. They think of themselves as people who have individual thoughts, beliefs, opinions, a culture or heritage and all those other labels which we carry around like medals. What they don't realize is that all of these things are really just learned behavior that we all are exposed to from birth. They are not conscious choices. When a person begins to take an honest look at their own compost pile they can then make a choice as to what type of compost they would like to make.

There are two types of garden composting: cold composting and hot composting. People seem to have similar ways of composting themselves.

In cold composting a person throws a lot of different parts of themselves into a pile and lets it sit. There is no work involved in this form of composting. Most of the time the pile just slowly rots. If any action takes place it is usually because a shock to the system upsets or turns the pile over exposing the garbage underneath. Cold composting is passive and takes a *long* time. It also smells terrible. The majority of people seem to be involved in cold composting. They often protect their pile by gathering with similar piles that have identical ingredients or mindsets. They rarely make a conscious choice of the ingredients which they incorporate into the pile and sometimes even accept other people's garbage as their own.

Hot composting is work and involves making a choice to exam the personal compost pile. It involves taking a very objective look at the material used in composting, discarding the garbage and getting down to the Truth that can make a compost pile heat up. A messy and sometimes painful business which involves taking control of the process, hot composting requires attention and constant turning in the form of shocks. Watering the compost with emotions can speed up the action. In fact, emotions are essential to good compost. They help to roll the pile around and provide a form of heat which makes the compost change from garbage to a rich mixture of good soil. It is important not to 'water' too much by dwelling on the mess. This could turn to self pity and produce a mushy, cold compost.

Looking around at the compost in the world and how it relates to personal composting should make for interesting reporting. It might even be interesting to read! Who knows what will turn the pile over and what will be exposed? It is an adventure and an experiment.