You may not be aware that I am an amateur gardener. I have been gardening since we lived in Kearny (about six years now), where I learned the magic of composting. My home teaching companion is also a gardener and for the last three years has given me four or five bags of leaves in the late fall to add to my compost pile. In the picture above I have just covered the pile with the third of five bags of leaves and I am hoping to get the other two mixed in by March so that they'll be composted by May. The other crucial ingredient is the rabbit poop from our five rabbits. They about double the volume of the alfalfa pellets we feed them. It's like magic, you put one cup of food in and get two cups of poop out. This whole recipe is topped off by my secret blend of herbs (ha, ha) and spices. If you can't tell what I am doing in this picture, I am NOT sniffing the compost (though it does smell very nice) I am kissing the little leaves before I put them to bed in the compost. I'm having a secret love affair with my dirt. Nothing kinky...just dirty.
Some nights when I get home from work I will go out and turn the compost pile. Not every day, just enough to keep the process going. This is actually a hybrid compost pile though. It is half composting, half vermiculture. My beautiful red worms live on the periphery of the pile where the compost can no longer reach the high temperatures that it does at the core. When the reaction slows down they move into the whole pile again turning my compost into worm castings. All of which makes my plants VERY happy come planting season.
Gotta love that dirt!
4 comments:
I think we found the reason all your hair fell out! Who knew that sniffing rabbit poop would have the same effect as radiation therapy? I wonder if it has the same effect on tumors? But how can something so good for tubers be bad for tumors? My question is, if you are such a proud farmer, why do we know more about your compost pile than your harvest? Love ya bro!
Rock licker, leaf kisser, and rabbit poop measurer. Kristine is a very lucky woman.
I'd really like to start a garden in our backyard and am interested in composting, but have no idea what to do with the 10 million pine needles mixed in with the leaves and grass clippings. Any suggestions oh wise one?
Papa J said...
The key to composting is the Nitrogen to Carbon ratio. Since Pine needles are mostly carbon you will need to find some good high nitrogen material. I solve that by having rabbits. You might volunteer to take neighbor's coffee grounds off their hands. You'll also have to watch out for the additional acidity that the needles will bring to the pile. You can counter that by adding lime to the compost AFTER you add it to your soil. It would really help in your eastern acidic soil if you got some pH strips first and make sure you get your soil into the right range (6-8).
Sorry if I seem to go on and on... It must be the tumor talking.
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