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[tom <tom AT honeychrome.com>]

""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?