Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Well, I agree.  I wasn't looking to amend, did not feel the need to
amend, but I have a 18" tall stack of sheetrock pieces that is taking up
space in my barn.  If I can chop it up and compost it or sprinkle it
over the pasture or garden or something, then that keeps me from driving
the 35 miles across the county and paying to dump it in the landfill.
It's recycling and leaving a smaller footprint, ya know?

But I'm curious as to what you think might be in sheetrock that wouldn't
decompose in the garden.
That article about 'contaminated' Chinese sheetrock doesn't apply here
because we would be using sheetrock in the garden, not in an enclosed
space.  Besides, those were natural gases anyway.
I saw sheetrock being made on How Its Made or some such show...very
interesting and a lot less processed than you would think.  Basically,
it is gypsum, cellulose(from the paper), starch (also from the paper)
and crystalline silicates (think sand).  If you buy a bag of gypsum,
generally you don't get starch and cellulose, so a piece of sheetrock is
more organic than a bag of gypsum <g> ;)
What am I missing, Gene...tell me now before I smash up all that
sheetrock and ruin my wonderful soil..


Bev



Gene GeRue wrote:

> I consider that there may well be chemicals in sheetrock that I do
> not want in my godly garden, so I will not use it.
>
> When in doubt, add more organic material, as natural as you can get.


--
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the
world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve
the problems of the human race"

~ Calvin Coolidge