Compost Reflections

I'm watching YouTube videos on composting, after visiting Joseph Jenkins' website. There are a lot of reflections based on these videos and previous readings.

First, in preparation one video, I think for the eco-composting toilet, showed an image of "seeding" the compost with previous sawdust or soil. I thought on this last year when "designing my own compost bin out of a plastic trash can, with holes drilled in for ventilation and seepage. I thought of putting in about 18 inches of potting soil (compost after my first couple of batches) stocked with a handful of worms. The initial 18 inches would serve as an absorbent base, particularly with a layer of straw on top of it. Additionally, I felt that 18 inches would be adequate to protect the worms from the thermophilic decomposition going on over head. As the additional layers of compost cooled down, the worms would migrate to the new layers of food, aerating the soil and munching on any further pathogens as they went.

Second, the use of compost. Many users say compost is only good for horticulture because of residual pathogens. (This is actually the reason for my double major in Microbiology, to develop credible testing methods for my compost.) Others say to till the compost in with the soil. In Farmers for 40 Centuries, by King, he observes the application of fresh night soil (feces and urine). The practice involves layering the additive. Dig down, laying the soil off to the left and right of the row. Put the [compost] as the base (where the roots will be), then add a layer of the soil you removed. Next, add a layer of silt or dampened soil, rubbed smooth (I assume this is to serve as a vapor barrier to prevent evaporation) and top it off with the remaining soil.

And finally, is simply an observation. If we are to transition to this environmentally sound practice, then videos showing "Deliverance" style settings should be minimized. Westerners love their comforts. To get a western community to move in the right direction requires a preservation of comforts equivalent to current technologies. My vision is to develop and put into place a system that synthesizes environmentally sound methods with current technologies to produce a sustainable system with relevant degrees of comfort.