A no brainer...
I thought this would be a good opener as I’ve just finished starting a new bin and it occurred to me while i was out there, that making bloody good compost, regardless of your garden size, is the most basic and rewarding craft a gardener can do. The life force present in compost is insane - what worms do turning kitchen scraps into amazing soil composting is the thing that really got me gardening. seemed the logical place to start talking gardening. thinking about starting this gardening journal when i think about it, the simple art of making compost and the rewards it gives is the very first thing I do before starting a garden. I feel good every time I do it. It’s a passion and it's a good place to get ideas for writing. I like that too. My kids don’t share that same composting passion funny enough (not yet anyway) and I didn’t either back then but then again we didn’t compost. We had chooks and that’s where the scraps went. They deserved it. In fact it fed the turkeys, the geese, the peacocks. No ducks tho. It eventually went full circle when you saw them on the plate. A fairly typical farm system to be honest. Compostings different tho.
It wasn’t until I did a permy course in northern NSW at the turn of the millennium that composting became real. Jeff Lawton demonstrated the 18 day fast compost, it worked like a dream and that was it, I was bitten by the bug. After that I tried all sorts of different methods for urban composting to a degree of success but not satisfying - something was missing. Years later we found ourselves living in Bali and that’s where the next game changer for me as an avid composter came to light. There’s a great organisation over there called Eco Bali - a waste management service where they offer waste collection and recycling plus a ‘complete easy to use composting system’ so it was a no brainer that we signed up. The set up included all the materials (bin, wire mesh, worms in compost, rice hay and dry compost ) required to begin composting, installation / training and a booklet. It contained the secret to success, using a unique layering process which if you follow the recipe properly, you get no smell and bloody great compost. Also they offered monthly subscription for not just waste collection but compost materials as well.
When we moved back to Oz, I bought the bins with me and I have taken those bins and my compost to every place we’ve lived since - South east Qld, Melbourne, Southern Tablelands and now the South Coast - The ‘mother’ (similar to that of a sourdough starter) is still going - close to 10 years now. ‘Make Compost. Save the World’ - that’s the slogan on the eco bali compost bin and it is so simple and so true. We take responsibility for a small amount of our waste and we create some of the best soil/humus anywhere on the planet, full of life. It doesn’t go to landfill, or a soil company where the life is taken out of it. It breaks down waste through the best in the business (worms) and gives ‘gardeners gold’. You see I’m a passionate gardener too. It’s what I do.
But back to this composting method. I was curious about the person who developed it so I dug a bit deeper (pardon the pun) and found the brain child behind it whilst having coffee in his cafe, ‘Seniman Coffee’ in Ubud. Artist Rodney Glick, together with fellow artist Lynette Voevodin wrote ‘Compostism' - The Layering Art of Composting’ with an aim that ‘encourages people to practice a simple, no fuss easy to follow method to make compost at home - successfully’. This booklet by the way was the exact same booklet we received when getting set up with Eco Bali.
Rodney Glick.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
