After several mowings of the lawn, the annual cleaning of the gutters and spring raking the time had come to do something with the compost pile. I drew this conclusion because the rate at which it was filling up seemed to be greater than the rate at which it was decomposing.
After discussing the situation with my friend (and I use the term loosely) Allen Vaughan, it was brought to my attention that the compost pile (herein referred to as "cp") needed to be "stirred" or "turned" (terms vary with location). Agreeing that this would surely speed the decomposition process, I embarked on this new path of faster rotting organic matter.
The first step, as in any endeavor of this kind, was to secure the proper tools for the job. In this case, the pitchfork seemed to be the tool of choice for mixing around the pungent material. However, after shopping the local Fred Meyer garden center, it appeared that the purchase of a pitchfork (at $25 or more) this month would eliminate the possibility of buying a new garbage can. Luckily, a Saturday trip to The Tool Shed, a local discount tool store, led us to discover that an alternative existed. The implement in question looks like a small pitchfork bent into the shape of a hoe. This seemed ideal for our purposes since Tina sought a hoe for gardening and I, of course, needed a pitchfork. The clincher was the fact that it sold for $7.90 and came in an attractive bright orange. So, we plopped down our $15.80 (for the hoe and a shovel) and returned merrily home.
Sunday afternoon, new tool in hand, I strode out to challenge my acrid nemesis. After a few strokes, it became clear that we had indeed chosen the right tool.
With no definite strategy in mind, I simply began digging away at the mound of decay. Soon I found myself concentrating on a particular corner (the CP is rectangular) and decided that this approach would work well: dig each corner down until hitting soil, then cover it up and move on to the next corner. This, I reasoned, would provide adequate mixing in all three dimensions with the least amount of effort (which is always a priority).
And so I proceeded to unearth leaves, twigs and grass that I had dumped in over the last month. Several interesting facts emerged as the job progress:
a) Decomposition seems to happen at different rates in different areas. Some areas 2 or 3 feet down had decomposed little if at all, while other spots less than a foot down had decomposed entirely to usable soil (which I promptly shoveled into a five gallon bucket for Tina).
b) The form of decomposition appears to vary with location and type of organic matter. Twigs, leaves and other similar matter breaks down into a dry, soily substance. Grass turns into a slimy, clay-like substance that smells very much like different kinds of dung. The most common odor appeared to be cow shit, but several times I thought I noticed dog and human feces in the air.
c) Grass also turns a very bright green and peels off in layers of slime from the bottom of the pile. It is also harder to dig because it generally comes out in small chunks. In retrospect, however, I think that one could probably cut larger pieces out before attempting removal.
d) Several weeks before when I was raking the remains of the leaves from the previous fall, I discovered several small pairs of _bloody_ panties laying next to some cigarette butts behind the tool shed. These had not decomposed at all so I moved them to the bottom of the pile. I think their rediscovery will be the highlight of the next "turning".