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["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

> Jerome Rodale introduced compost knowledge to America through his
> writings and publications. His early compost instruction required
> that compost pile reach a high internal temperature. This typically
> requires a lot of nitrogen and also requires turning the pile so it
> "finished" equally throughout.

Yeah, well, put some donkey (or other equine) manure in the mix, and
you can heat it up quite a lot. Put chicken manure in there, and you
have to let it cook a little whle to quit steaming.

My great uncle Johnny knew more about gardening and truck farming than
most of us will ever learn. After he sold his horses, which he
regretted immediately, he became an annual supplicant at my parents'
for their donkey manure. He used it in his hotbeds in the spring to
make them really hot, and I only wish I knew how he did it with out
burning off the seedlings. He did, though -- he could grow anything. I
can testify that I spent many years of my youth picking strawberries,
blackberies, cantaloupe, watermelon, green beans, eggplant... well,
you get the picture... that he peddled door to door in surrounding
towns (and I helped with that too -- child slavery not being an issue
in those days).

Marie