Il Fait Chaud!

I have been surprised by the number of "volunteers" that have shown up in my garden: sunflowers, tomatoes, squash, zinnias, and others that I have lumped into the general category of Weeds. As I weed out the intruders, I blame our compost for not being hot enough to kill the seeds that I so nonchalantly threw into the pile. Of course, blaming the compost pile is just kicking the dog. There is someone to blame, but it isn't the dog (we don't have one). I have a feeling I have met the enemy, and it is us!

Steps had to be taken to get our compost pile into shape. For a compost pile to get really hot, between 140 and 160 degrees, you need to have an appropriate mix of ingredients: 1 part nitrogen to 3 parts carbon. That means that high nitrogen sources like vegetable wastes from the kitchen or garden and  manure must be layered into a pile with a significant amount of carbon sources like dried leaves and mulches. In addition, the pile must be turned regularly. This requires getting out there with a pitch fork and moving all 100 cubic feet of material (5x5x4 feet) from the layered pile to another pile, preferably right beside it, thereby turning the original pile upside down. This aerates the material and serves to stimulate all the microorganisms, causing them to throw a big party, eat a lot of food, and generate an awful lot of heat. Turning the pile every few weeks should cause all of the material to break down within a couple of months into beautiful black compost that will fertilize the garden without adding to your personal stress level by forcing you to decide whether the green you see emerging from the ground is something you planted this season or something you ate last season.

So off we went to get the compost pile in order. It took three hours of hard work, but we had everything turned and rebuilt, with heat coming off of it almost immediately.

Now you may think you have read the main point of this post, but you haven't. There is more to this story, and it has to do with the fact that the long awaited day has arrived--our chickens have begun to lay!!!

Our first egg was delivered by Laura the Australorp on March 27 at 9:48 a.m. (How's that for dramatic effect!) It just so happened that I was watching the coop as she came down the ramp and made her announcement to the world. We immediately gathered the very small first egg, and though the egg had a  crack where she had perhaps given it a peck to see if it really was real, we just could not keep from grinning as we examined the color and hardness of the shell. After turning it over several times, noting its heft, we decided that because of the crack, the egg would have to go into the compost pile.

After an appropriate period of ooh-ing and aah-ing, both Harvey and I went our separate ways to work on the lists we had made for ourselves. About forty-five minutes later, we met in the kitchen for coffee. I asked to see the egg so that I could check on the color and consistency of the yolk. The egg, however, had already been put into the compost--buried in the pile where all of those partying microbes were. Of course, there was no getting around it. The egg had to be retrieved so that we could crack it open to see the inside, and of course, that was Harvey's job.

Harvey returned, grinning as he put the hot little orb into my hand. "It's probably cooked," he said jokingly.

And there you have it. An egg that almost meets the requirement for a soft-boiled egg--cooked in the compost pile in a very short period of time!

Tonight's supper is a foil-pack dinner (bits of steak, potatoes, and carrots wrapped in foil) a la compost. It's great to know we have our own alternate source of energy--and it is some hot!

P.S. Just joking about dinner, but who knows....