From the latin word composita meaning “put together”, composting is an age old practice where Nitrogen based materials ( green plants, food scraps etc.) and Carbon materials (mulch) are combined with water and oxygen to create the ideal environment for micro organisms to thrive.
When most people think of compost they may imagine a rotating bin or some other form of work that feels like a useless chore. What if, however, such a chore could reduce your risk of sickness, aging and disease? would you take a second look? What if composting was the key to making you healthy and your food taste better?
One reason many humans are not gardening correctly is because they are not aware how important organisms are. Large scale agriculture is yet in a primitive state because it is egregiously harmful to soil and seemingly unaware of the vital importance of microbes or the soil food web and how to implement a no-till carbon cycle. Large scale farming bypasses natural chemistry with science and chemicals.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”.
Centuries before the dawn of microbiology, A master who could heal the blind, multiply loaves of bread to feed thousands, and rearrange molecules to walk on water must have also been aware of his microscopic creatures that inhabited the earth. Invisible to the naked eye, they out number us a trillion to one. Jesus was a master of teaching in parallels and double meanings. “He that hath an ear to hear let him hear.”
Jesus said “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.” Being made aware that billions upon trillions of life forms are destroyed each time the plow turns the garden has led me to rethink the way I treat soil. Illness is a just reward for sterility. Health and longevity is a form of mercy and I don’t believe such is possible without respecting and showing mercy to the microbes that feed us.
Our primitive attitudes tend to consider ALL microbes as dangerous pathogens that need to be eliminated. Yet pathogens only exist in anaerobic conditions. These can quickly replace good microbes after them and their habitat are wiped away (antibiotics, plowing, fungicides, fertilizer etc.).
Microbes have been around since the beginning of time and they aren’t going away anytime soon. They just simply are not benefiting us directly in the soils we farm. The tiger was never the real king of the jungle. The world is dominated by microbes. Each teaspoon of soil contains billions of the microbes. Compost feeds soil microbes which in turn feed plants, composting is a vital key in building a soil food web. It helps to quickly inoculate the soil with beneficial bacteria you probably didn’t even know existed. Good bacteria ensures plants remain healthy and healthy plants are more tasty, have more minerals and, of course, healthier food.
Did you know that plants practice the art of composting themselves? We all know plants die or shed leaves which is how nature mulches itself but what about compost? Plants need microbes to feed them. They need the tiny organisms around their root structures because these work tirelessly to generate the fertilizers plants need. Plants cant sit around and wait for a humans to come along with bags of ammonium nitrate either. They must feed themselves. By converting sunlight energy into carbon exudates (sugars) plants bleed food out of their roots into the soil so that it ferments. In this way plants attract a protective barrier of good bacteria that in turn feed plants and shield their roots from harmful microbes. This is the same concept as the gut biome. It works the same but it’s just inside out. bacteria and fungus all come to the roots for nourishment, in return, they benefit the plant. Cow manure doesn’t feed plants, it feeds bacteria. only bacteria manure feeds plants. Bacteria, by their very presence, excretes waste. They also die becoming another form of compost. These are nutrients the plant needs so it is in the best interest of the plant to have LOTS of them around. By turning over the soil with a plow we kill trillions of bacteria instantly providing the cache of nutrients that made up their bodies for our crops but this prospecting trick can’t be repeated every year without setting back these habitats and depleting soil carbon/ nutrient stores. It’s like bulldozing a bank in order to get the money out. That’ll work once but it must be rebuilt and functioning before there are more resources. Then we bulldoze it again, take the cash, and leave behind construction materials with a thank you note so the banks can get rebuilt in time for next year.
If microbes had any sense of justice, they would cancel our credit until we mended our abusive ways.
As a 4th generation beekeeper, I know that when bees are healthy, they produce a surplus of honey harvest. In the old days, beekeepers killed the entire colony and extracted all the honey from the skep. Today, even though we harvest many pounds from each hive, we must leave behind nearly 100lbs 30 jars, in each hive so they can survive the winter. It’s tempting to cache in on a valuable resource but that’s called irresponsible stewardship. Others see it as prospecting while others still see it as robbery. Let the results speak for themselves. When life is respected it multiplies and the long term rewards are greater. That’s really what composting is about, the greater long term rewards. It requires patience and ability to see the bigger picture.