At
the same time, from our insulated but unheated garage comes buckets
and boxes of sprouting potatoes and cart loads of moldy uneaten
winter squashes. There may be a few crates of last fall's withered
apples as well. Sprouting potatoes, mildewed squash, and shriveled
apples are spread atop the base of brassica stalks.
I grow my own vegetable seed whenever possible, particularly for
biennials such as brassicas, beets and endive. During summer these
generate large quantities of compostable straw after the seed is
thrashed. Usually there is a big dry bean patch that also produces a
lot of straw. There are vegetable trimmings, and large quantities of
plant material when old spring-sown beds are finished and the soil
is replanted for fall harvest. With the first frost in October there
is a huge amount of garden clean up.
As each of these materials is acquired it is temporarily placed next
to the heap awaiting the steady outpourings from our 2-1/2 gallon
kitchen compost pail. Our household generates quite a bit of
garbage, especially during high summer when we are canning or
juicing our crops. But we have no flies or putrid garbage smells
coming from the compost pile because as each bucketful is spread
over the center of the pile the garbage is immediately covered by
several inches of dried or wilted vegetation and a sprinkling of
soil.
By October the heap has become about six feet high, sixteen feet
long and about seven feet wide at the base.
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