Compost-A Metaphor for Life

Last year I decided to learn about composting. I picked up a free bin through the county and started a rudimentary pile. I threw all my kitchen scraps in with yard trimmings and turned it a few times, leaving it to basically rot through the fall and winter.

It was a mess, it stunk. and it was gross! To my surprise, in late February, when I checked it, the most beautiful deep rich brown soil was before my eyes. I was completely delighted. I made dirt!

I was so excited! I felt that I was taking responsibility for the refuse I created, and my excitment was akin to a two year old learning how to poop for the first time.

Our emotional, mental and spiritual garbage needs to be recycled on a regular basis and so does our physical trash. Composting puts me in touch with the Earth's abundant natural resources and her innate intelligence. Participating in this act nourishes and feeds the earth element within me.

As we all become more and more comfortable with our own backyard we will be more and more connected to the natural rhythms of nature.

Composting does not have to stink if you follow the basic and easy guidelines. This year I have three compost bins going and I love it.

Happy Composting! The photo above is of my herb garden, 2006.

Biodegradable

Plastic is out and biodegradable is in. For years now I have been getting my groceries in plastic and paper bags, because I used the plastic bags to clean the litter box for my cats everyday throwing them out in the trash. Plastic doesn't decompose for one-hundred years or more and highly toxic conventional kitty litter doesn't either.

It has been on my mind for years to begin using biodegradable bags to go along with the biodegradable litter I buy. Now, since the organic and health food stores no longer provide plastic bags, it encouraged me to change.

Yesterday I bought 30 biodegrabale bags for $4.99. That will last one month or more because I don't always clean the boxes every day. Hundreds of thousands of us are throwing away toxic cat litter in plastic bags everyday, let alone with kitchen trash bags we dispose of. Eliminating plastic altogether is a big job for all of us.

It is a wonderful act of love to adopt animals and provide homes for them and we can go further. Developing deeper kinship with the earth by making new choices creates a cleaner environment for us all, giving the next generations less to clean up, one choice at a time.