Even from the compost

We have an old compost bin. We save all our food scraps and dump them into the compost bin on a regular basis. With a bit of stirring now and then and some dirt added here and there - when it is time to take out some of the decaying matter at the bottom of the bin - our gardens receive a real nutrient boost. We also have a bin that spins. That one makes black gold as fast as I can spin it. For several years, I collected something called zoo brew. You guessed correctly - zoo droppings aged in fine piles and ready for home use. All this stuff is quite amazing.

And yet, from this stuff - this shit - this left over garbage - there comes a surprise now and then. In our garden I now have two potato plants. Earlier in the Spring I noticed three hearty plants growing out of the air slots in the compost bin. Every year, tomato plants do this and occasionally I'll gently pull them and give them a space in the real garden. So it was with the potato plants. But with these, I had to dig down into the compost bin to find out the identity of these plants rising up to the sunlight. Sure enough, cut up potatoes we let go too long in the refrigerator were sent to the compost bin and now they were demonstrating that they were still full of life. Even from that which is supposed to be dead comes a surprising take on new life. For a city guy who really knows very little about farming or gardening, this is always thrilling. I don't even know what type of potatoes to expect by summers end.

In a small patch of dirt in our front lawn that was once the site of a magnolia tree, I decided to plant some flowers. Unfortunately, the person who was to ground down the stump of the tree - did not go down very deep at all. That meant that those flowers were not going to have much good soil to feed them. As they barely seemed to be making it, I went to the compost bin that spins. There was black gold in that bin! I shoveled out a bunch of fresh food and wheeled it over to the flowers. I then made holes all around the flower and filled them with the great dirt - so fresh I could still see some egg shells. With some watering and good spring showers; the faltering flowers are coming to life. That is not all. Some sort of squash is also growing - thriving - trying to take over. I didn't see it coming and I was not able to distinguish the plant until the big yellow flowers appeared. We shall see.

I rarely give myself the opportunity to wait and see what comes of the events taking place in my life. I might do well to let myself work like a compost bin - make room - let it rest - toss it around a bit - be surprised by that which I did not see coming. And yet, I also know that from that bin is to come life - new life - new life out of the throwaway stuff of our lives - new life hidden at first but ready to make itself known. There will not be new life if the compost is left in the bin. It must come out. It must be put to use. It must become a part of the future that cannot be seen just yet.

I find that within the ordinary stuff of the day - the stuff that can easily be thrown out - the encounters that I may simply pass by - the people I have judged as other or out of place - may spring life I really never intended to enter. That which I do anticipate or for which I plan does not always come to life. And yet, my life becomes involved and filled up with the unanticipated things that simply spring up despite my inattention. Taking time to stir up the compost pile now and then may stir up some life in me that I did not see. But sometime that stirring is messy and it can smell to high heaven. I am amazed that when the garbage is stirred up more regularly - it tends not to smell so bad and the earth is enriched. I hope I am also. Fresh life - even from the compost
TRRR