Thursday, Jun. 18, 2009 - 8:09 a.m.

I stuck my hand in my compost bin today. It was warm! Just like it's supposed to be. I wasn't really sure I was doing it right, so this is good news. My compost has had quite a busy year-- first it was just a pile of sticks that wouldn't do anything, then I added greens to get it going again, but overdid it and it started to smell a little and draw these weird flies (not houseflies-- they were just weird. From far away they look like yellowjackets, but they're harmless). We've been having so much rain, that hasn't helped either. Too wet. So then I started adding shredded paper to it, and it seems to have stabilized. Now I'm getting a bit more ambitious; today I added shredded cardboard giftwrap tubes, torn up cardboard produce containers (the little ones that hold sugar snap peas at the farmer's market). I have a cardboard takeaway carton I'm going to add soon, too, plus I can collect toilet paper tubes and put them in. The more cardboard I add, the more greens I can add. Good times!

I still haven't turned it, but if we get a new deck, I'll have to move the pile, which will certainly entail turning. My finished compost next year is gonna be so good.

Last night a drunk philosopher told us a story about how when she was 17 she was at a 4-day orgy and partway through fell asleep (passed out) on the compost bin. It was nice because it was warm; they couldn't find her for hours. This may be the funniest anecdote I've heard from a philosopher yet.

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