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| I'm just wondering what people's thoughts are on this matter...
I'm new to "active" composting. That is to say that I have routinely used a mulching mower to mulch grass and dead leaves, and then piled these in my woods, but not turned them, watered them, or added anything else. Recently I constructed an actual bin and started collecting all kitchen scraps and other things to "actively" build my pile. I discovered that even before building the bin, I became totally obsessed with reading about composting and the various bin types. I still obsessively look at pictures of homemade bins! And I'm obsessively reading about possible additions to the pile, and excitedly collect kitchen scraps or fruits and vegetables which are in the fridge, that I'm just SURE I won't use, so I might as well cut up and toss on the pile. Now I'm planning to go to the beach just so I can get seaweed for the pile. What is it about composting which makes us so obsessive, and so crazily excited? I read a blog post which referred to "compost porn" - of the INNOCENT type - similar to so-called "food porn". The photo Jon Hughes posted of steaming piles of compost fits the bill! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Wed, Sep 28, 11 at 0:07
| We are not called Compost Whacko's for nothing ;-)
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- Posted by belgianpup Wa/Zone 7b (My Page) on Wed, Sep 28, 11 at 0:40
| Oooooooh! Look at that compost! *drooling* Jon Hughes is in Oregon! Practically next door! And I'VE got a pickup truck! And my sister has a pickup truck! And my best friend has a pickup truck! And it looks like he's in the phonebook..... *rubbing hands gleefully, with an evil, predatory laugh* Sue |
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- Posted by vermontkingdom 4a (My Page) on Wed, Sep 28, 11 at 6:30
| I'm not sure why it happens or if anyone can actually explain why it happens to otherwise "normal non compulsive" gardeners. It's a bit insidious. At first, composting is a rather laid back interprize. However, little by little, you become more committed to the idea that all small amounts of organic matter, whatever their origin, must spend part of their existence in one of your compost bins. By the time you realize what has become of you, it's too late. And, if you think that is strange, just wait until you catch the "wooden pallet" illness! You'll become obsessed with building a zillion or two different kinds of garden structures/projects and therefore, no pallets or pieces thereof are allowed to pass from the dumpster to the landfill. And, you rightly justify everything, because your raised beds, made from salvaged throw away pallets and filled with unbelieveable compost, produces the most amazing non-pesticide organic fruits and veggies. If we are crazy, and I guess my wife would probably cast an affirmative vote, I still think that's not necessarily a bad thing. |
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| I fear you are asking the wrong crowd. I also notice that Sue is still quite sane, a true compost ;-) Lloyd (whose favourite season is when the yard trimmings bags are filled with ripped out garden plants, some leaves and grass clippings...whoo hooo) |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Wed, Sep 28, 11 at 12:07
| There is something archetypal about turning trash into treasure, I think. It's a metaphor for life, and yet it's a lot more controllable and successful than dealing with a lot of the other garbage in life. Tim Taylor's neighbor on Home Improvement - what was his name - once told Tim he was a builder and tool man because it satisfied his drive to create, but as a man he couldn't give birth, so it was natural to do something else creative. :-] |
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| Wilson? |
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- Posted by schreber_gaertner (My Page) on Wed, Sep 28, 11 at 13:29
| Part of what grabs me is being able to do something so purely good in so many ways. Removing trash from a landfill, and turning it into something fertile and ultimately edible, with no downside, and no cost, other than a bit of human effort, and no pollutants released or resources used. I feel the same way about giving blood. |
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| I can't get enough of those photos! Regarding the "wooden pallet" disease... yes, I think I have it. My husband got me a bunch of pallets and I only used the three which were standard size and could create a nice even bin. I now have a bunch of others of varying sizes... and they're crying out for me to use them. I might build a wood shed... or more compost bins... or who knows what else. He has an endless source of free pallets because he is the director of a distribution operation. And I guess there is something to the trash to treasure aspect. And maybe the fact that it is so easy to do something so good. I've really never been into environmental issues, but now having a fairly large amount of land, and having gardened for a few years now, I'm more and more interested in issues pertaining to the environment. And it's not hard to keep your organic waste out of the trash and it's good for the environment and your plants, and saves money, all at the same time. (If only I had to pay by the bag for trash disposal, as my parents in Maine do... then I'd see even more of a savings. Right now the big savings will be in not buying soil amendments.) But it still doesn't qute explain the compulsive aspects of composting.... |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Wed, Sep 28, 11 at 17:19
| I think it's so addicting because once you realize how much you could use, you want that much, which is an amount I've never been able to create. Even when I go steal other people's bags of leaves/grass and make what seems like a ridiculously large pile, it's not big enough for me to not feel like "I wish I had more compost! What "they" don't tell you when you're getting started is that you really need 2 bins or piles so you have somewhere to put stuff while you wait for the original to be ready to use. |
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- Posted by nygardener z6 New York (My Page) on Wed, Sep 28, 11 at 21:20
| I think it's because it gets so hot and steamy. And crawling with critters. And after you turn it into plants, you can eat it. It's like playing with mud when you're a kid, but the mud is alive. |
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- Posted by belgianpup Wa/Zone 7b (My Page) on Wed, Sep 28, 11 at 23:01
| It's making something from 'nothing'. It's turning useless trash into treasure. It's making food from waste. And just think, all some people want to do is make money, poor things. Sue |
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- Posted by Coconut_Head none (My Page) on Thu, Sep 29, 11 at 14:24
| Lots of good sound reasoning in this thread. I'll add one, We get compulsive about it because it's something we are supposed to be doing, I mean a totally fulfilling endeavor. Mind, body and spirit, working as one with our environment in a purley symbiotic relationship. The completeness of the satisfaction we get from this activity is matched by nearly no other activity we do as humans, and thus our entire being craves for us to do more of it, to do it bigger and better. If I could compost as a full time job, I'd quit my regular job tomorrow. LOL |
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| It just bothers me to no end how the trees in my neighborhood went to all the trouble to reach down deep into the soil to pull up valuable nutrients needed for the plants in the yards, and then people rake them up and haul them off to the landfill. They are robbing the wealth of their land, in my opinion. So I come along and get all of it I possibly can - I'll put the wealth of their yard in my yard..... |
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| nygardener----i just about started to blush when i got to the " so hot and steamy" part---liked---- sue----i likes me money and me compost ---arrrrgggghhh!!!!!! coconut---- i would quit my job also for a full time composter position---- or maybe one of the guys that mows the highway median on one of those huge john deere's----would have to have AC and would have to be allowed to drink beer whilst mowing---:) dreambear-----i like the world you live in---can i come over and play???? ya'll have a great weekend ----sunny and 75 hear ---yeeehawww!!! JB
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- Posted by compogardenermn 4- Twin Cities MN (My Page) on Fri, Sep 30, 11 at 14:48
| Seeing the beneficial results it gives my plants makes me desire to make more and more of it! I collect as much compostable goods as I can and then seek even more! I'm like a crack addict chasing the dragon to get a higher fix. I've gotten real *bad*... I dig through the garbages at work and take home all the banana peels, apple cores, orange peels, etc... I cant get enough! Its just so much fun and so enjoyable to me- even more so to my plants. I love showing people who dont understand compost side by side comparisons of plants grown with compost and those in normal soil. It really gives them a visual! I'm slowly infecting my family, friends and coworkers with the "disease"! I'm getting a lot of their food scraps and now they are starting to feel bad for throwing them away. |
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| It's my theory that humans are hard-wired to live in a way that nurtures all of life and composting is part of the life cycle of soil and of a healthy lifestyle. It's just the right thing to do! Those who do not yet understood that cannot feel the satisfaction the rest of us do and are to be pitied. They are missing so much. |
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- Posted by Worms4Tracy none (My Page) on Mon, Oct 3, 11 at 2:07
| Because you can imagine all the wonderful possibilities and the simple steps you need to take to make them happen are ALL FUN! What could be better? Coconut and Joebob- the other day I took my 8 yo daughter helped me to shovel some horse manure into buckets for our worm bin. She would not let me touch the shovel, let alone actually help. After only twenty minutes, she announced that she could shovel horse poop all day, and that when she grew up she wanted to be a "Horse Poop Shoveler." I was so proud! My 5 yo now says that she can talk to worms and loves helping me build vermicomposters. I am the proud mama of two budding young compost whacko's who've found the joy in it. What's better than composting? Composting with the next generation! |
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| Tracy ----8 and 5 yo's in the dirt-----don't get any better than that-----whatever it is your doing ---keep it up---they will be so much better off with an apreciation of what it feels like to get your hands dirty as they grow up in this ever increasingly techno crazy world we live in------JB |
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