poop

Today at lunch I picked up 35 bags (40 lb. each) at a big box store of composted manure. My car was loaded down in the back.

Funny how refined cow poop, aged in organic materials, becomes a valuable commodity (to me -- the big box only charges a dollar or so a bag). Mixing in composted manure changes the texture of the hard clay soil immediately, provides food for the worms, helps contain moisture in helpful doses. In amended soils, plant roots find the soil much more loose and hospitable to their growth. This is the real circle of life, something appreciated by George Washington and lots of other gardeners.

So I unloaded the bags throughout the garden. This will keep me busy and will make sure that important work continues (finishing up beds already started, making richer the soil in areas where I've already planted). If you open the bags, you will find a fine black substance, dirtlike when dry. If there is a smell, it is a sweet one, although compost made out in the pile probably smells sweeter, more earthy. Time, air, and water work with chemistry to burn out the poop, making it something else, gold for the soil. Organic materials should be non-cooked vegetable and fruit, leaves and grass, old flowers. It's important not to put weeds in compost unless you are sure it will cook to a temperature hot enough to kill any weed seeds.

My neighbors don't like to talk about manure. Different ones often say the same thing, can't you create a compost pile without manure? Yes, but manure makes it richer, and fresh manure makes it work faster.

Always important to wear gloves when dealing with manure. It's important to only use manures from herbivores (chickens, horses, cows, sheep) -- cats and dogs and humans (meateaters) all spread bacteria that is harmful to us.