Compost this year

It’s compost year in the Brown garden. We’ve been building a compost pile since we moved here nearly 10 years ago and every few years we find a pile of beautifully composted soil on the pile that we use enrich the garden. A few days ago I planted potatoes (St. Patrick’s Day is our marker for when to plan) and I put compost into the trench with the seed potatoes. As soon as the pile dries from the two days of rain we had, I’ll dig up more of it to put on top of the potato hill.

Composting is not difficult and it’s a great way to not only keep your garden soil healthy, but also to reduce the garbage you have. On Mondays, garbage day for our neighborhood, Jim nearly always comments on the bags of garbage and boxes of recycling he sees up and down our street. We have little of either. All of our food waste, except meat, goes into the compost pile. And although we recycle everything possible, we try to avoid buying things that are disposable which lessens our recycling and our remaining garbage.

I signed up for daily reminders during this Lenten season from the 2011 Ecumenical Lenten Carbon Fast. Today’s entry is about dealing with waste. They say the average U.S. household produces approximately 4.5 pounds of solid waste per day. When waste goes into a landfill, it generates greenhouse gasses; when it’s composted, it doesn’t produce carbon.

There are many reasons to compost. Perhaps it’s something you want to try this year.