Monday, May 26, 2014

Humerous Happenings at the Rocheser Compost Pile

Compost is truly one of the many wonders of the natural world. I get 5-6 pickup loads a week so I am at the waste to energy facility in Rochester a lot. The county does an excellent job of processing leaf and grass clippings into black gold.

My fellow composters are the salt of the earth but sometimes the things they do at the compost pile in pursuit of their world class gardens just make me laugh... 


The early part of the season is always a struggle with cold and rain. The typical composter wants reasonably dry and crumbly compost, but sometimes there are a few small bolder size chunks that most folks just push aside in pursuit of the finer "pay dirt". Yesterday I saw a lady take a new approach for the first time. She backed up her car to the pile and got out a whole stack of 5 gallon pails from her trunk. I thought, "a serious gardener, giving her plants a boost for the season." We'll she set the pails aside and proceeded to fill her trunk with these bolder sized chunks. Hmm, I'm wondering if she is going to landscape with them or something. I hope she isn't disappointed when they "melt" into gopher mound sized piles. 

I often see folks fill containers very full that they struggle to get into their vehicles. Large trash containers are typical and I'm always happy to lend a hand to get their trash containers into their vehicle to speed them on their way. The classic example of this was a petite small lady who filled a jumbo sized tub to the brim, I'm sure it weighed way more than she did. She was trying to get it into her van and she couldn't budge it. I had to laugh when she got up into the van and was nearly standing on her head trying to lift the huge tub. I was afraid she was going to fall into the tub. I asked if she needed a little help and she said that would be appreciated, so I set it in the van for her.

My favorite was the two elderly ladies who were filling five gallon pails for their garden. They had about 10 pails of beautiful compost all ready to go and I thought all was well. But then between the two of them they couldn't carry the pails and get them into their trunk. So I helped them put the pails into their car. All pretty normal happenings. But what made me laugh was when I got them loaded they offered to help me load my full sized pickup. Not only that, but they were very kind and wondered if I came often (which I do), maybe they could meet me there periodically and help me load on other days. While this is one of the most generous offers I have received, it just seemed a bit impossible, or at least improbable. I use a large number 12 grain scoop to load with, that speeds up the process and if you aren't used to this size shovel it is a bit of work the first couple of loads. The thought of these two gracious little ladies filling my truck made me chuckle. One of those, "spirit is willing but the flesh is weak," situations.

I especially like the kids that come help their parents. They usually have a small pail or shovel and some of them work very hard to keep up with mom or dad.

That is where the legacy begins isn't it.

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