spiceoflife's Blog

I actually felt inspired turning my compost pile yesterday. It felt good to be doing some honest hard work in the yard again. I was going to post this in the Cheezy Poetry forum, but the subject wasn't compost, and to be honest, I was feeling selfish today so I'm posting it on my blog instead. I hope you enjoy it.

Regards,

Robert

The day is warm, still young and bright.
I'm out of work while still daylight!
I rush back home to check my bin
and see what sort of shape it's in.

I grab my fork and lift the lid
To see what time and hard work did.
I've thrown in leaves, and grass and twigs
Veggie peels and rotten figs.

There's no bad smell, so that is good.
But I still see leaves and bits of wood.
It's not done, oh no, not yet.
It will be soon, on that I'd bet.

So I start digging through the pile.
I know that this will take a while.
There's lot's of stuff, at least a ton.
It's a good thing I think this is fun.

Otherwise this would just be work
To be avoided or to shirk.
But it's good exercise for me,
And the compost that I get is free!

I plunge my fork into the leaves;
I shift my grip and then I heave!
What comes out just can't be beat:
Four tines full of hoary heat!

Actinomycetes makes the scene:
Bacteria that's white, not green.
It's filamentous fibers grow
through every leaf and blade I've mowed.

This thermophilic power play
By this bacteria night and day
Drives up the inner temperature
To kill bad things just like Pasteur.

Lifting here and tossing there
The compost sailing through the air
From full bin 1 to empty 2
Mixes oxygen all through.

This helps wee beasties to respire
and build more heat in my dark fire.
They work alchemically even faster
to make soil like an earth spellcaster.

After 30 minutes muscles hurt
from turning waste into new dirt.
So I decide to pack it in
and cover up my compost bin.

One more week and compost's done
Then I can shoot the starting gun
And get my veggies all to race
To be the first into my face.