Turning a compost heap with a fork or a screw is absorbing, hard work. It reminds you of things you put in the compost months before, and reveals how time has worked on them. Compost is forgiving: any neglected or stagnant heap will improve almost immediately if you turn it.
This is a blog about trying to find the balance between work and life.
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The very best aspect of the compost heap, like life, is its serendipity. Last year, I lifted easily a dozen volunteer heirloom tomato plants from the heap to move into the tomato bed and, most magical of all, found a lovely cantaloupe vine flourishing at the top of the mound with four perfect melons waiting for me when I got back from vacation in August. Marigolds, cosmos, zinnias, cone flowers, a little white birch seedling, old-timey hollyhocks, iridescent lizards…there’s always something wonderful turning up in the compost heap.