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  • From: tom <tom AT honeychrome.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Soil remineralization beyond NPK
  • Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:57:18 -0500

""Extension office Master
Gardeners have kittens when one discusses such things as the composting of
meat scraps, or, horrors, whole critters. I had that training, so I know we
were supposed to scold these ideas""

Its interesting- 'compost' is bubbling up and becoming a hot and hip issue in the city where I'm stuck spending half of my time, but everyone makes a really big deal about what can and can't go in (no dairy, no meat scraps, no this, no that....). We put everything (well, couldn't sell the significant other on the humanure system.... yet....) in the pile in the country and thats what we did when I was a kid. But still, nobody has every given a solid reason as to why meat scraps, dairy, animal parts, etc. shouldn't go in, other than the vague 'something might dig it up.' Is there any other reason?

On a related note, there is an interesting article in the new Harper's Magazine about New York City's bio-waste (that would be sh*t) stream. I got a depressing laugh from it, especially the part when the superintendent of an NYC wastewater treatment plant says, "A bear goes in the woods and it takes two years to decompose. We do it in six hours. In six house we imitate all of nature......" Aside from the fact that the two year figure is pretty dubious, the article then goes on and on describing all of the very high-energy input steps that go into 'imitating all of nature.' Sadly the obvious question is never raised in the article- why not just let nature do the work?





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