Greetings pilers,
I've been meaning to post some initial thoughts for a while... First of all, I'm excited to be part of the nutrient loop experiment and glad that my personal waste can be a part of something other than sewage. A couple of questions that I've been wondering about: First, I store my straw outside and with the last rains, the bale got wet. I'm wondering about mold. If I cover it now, is that going to increase my chances of growing mold? Should I let the hay dry out and then cover it with a tarp? What are others doing for straw storage? One thing I've also found is that the bucket needs to be emptied before I think... You need to give things a little bit of room to drop! Anyone else had funny encounters with clearance problems? Also, I haven't been wetting my sawdust at all. Is that a problem?
One of the things I've noticed in the last couple of weeks, only tangentially related to the nutrient loop, is how shifting habituated behavior (ie, using a bucket rather than the toilet) is such a productive way to be slightly more awake or present. Not to sound too corny... but I've really noticed that catching myself going for the toilet and then reminding myself that I want to use the bucket is an interesting exercise. More soon and pics too!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
POST-PILE, or piling on...
Posted by ken ehrlich at 2:20 PM
1 Comment:
Hey Ken,
Glad to hear it's all going so well. Ideally, straw should be kept dry, or it'll begin to compost before you'd like it to. Two of the reasons for straw's great composting action are the fact that it's composed of hollow tubes which trap air, and also the fact that it breaks down super fast. If it's flat and slimy when you throw it in your pile then it's not quite as optimal, in other words. I leave my bales, one at a time, out in the elements, because I tend to use them rather quickly and it seems not to matter. If the massive, prolonged rains we all wish for were to arrive, I'd cover it. But a little moisture's not the end of the world. I'd not worry about mold so much. Mold is good. As long as it's outside.
The awakenedness you mention is central to our endeavor, and for me, intertwined with a sort of subterranean satisfaction or excitement, a nice bonus one gets for being an active participant, so to speak, as opposed to a passive flusher. A keen little buzz. Cheers!
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