In article , Bill wrote:
I want to make what I think is an important point. We are not trying to make
the compost absolutely sterile. That is not the goal at all. We only hope
to make it as safe as the soil it is used in and on. Culture a petri dish
of soil sometime and you'll see that this is an easy target to reach.

Right. As I pointed out, roundworms are in ordinary soil everywhere,
in fact the most common way dogs pick up fresh infestations is walking
on dirt then licking their feet. (Tho a dog on a meat-based diet will
have a gut water balance and immune response that keeps ascarids at a
very low level; also, there is some evidence that a low population of
"normal" parasites are *required* for truly sound intestinal balance.
Which a lot of breeders had already noticed, since 100%-parasite-free
puppies tend to have more issues with unexplained diarrhea.)

Composting is simply the act of gathering together and concentrating the
processes that occur naturally without human intervention. Who here fears
forest soil? Who even cares if a bear made a doo-doo on it last year? Who
cares if a deer carcass rotted on it five years ago? Or if a mouse or
squirrel shat on it today? The bear doo-doo and the deer carcass benefitted
from time, not temp. and the only trace they left behind was soil that was
richer for their presence. The rodent doo-doo is simply accepted because
there is little choice and little risk. We want that bushel of soil, rat
poop and all, because we know how fertile it is. We'll take our chances
with the poop.

Right. The odd lump here and there from reasonably healthy critters
(or dead critters from natural causes) won't hurt anything and will
provide concentrated nitrogen. But this is different from trying to
make compost from materials that are *primarily* poop (or corpses
In nature, poop gets dropped here and there, is a very tiny minority
of the total, and is worked upon by all the stuff around it. It's not
piled all in one big heap. (Tho Garden Cat is making the attempt...
she's got two distinct *piles* going in my side yard -- not that it's
going to hurt the desert sand much.)

BTW, some years ago someone did some research on why certain swaths of
Europe, most notably in Germany and France, have such spectacularly
lush growth, above and beyond what is typical for the region. A glance
at historical maps, and some digging, made the reason obvious: these
are areas that have been battlegrounds for centuries, and have a
rather high concentration of, um, composted corpses (blood is a
wonderful fertilizer!) and rusted armour.

We let the three year old eat the green bean fresh from the vine with little
concern for what the wind, bird and bug have left behind. Why? Because we
want her to love gardens as we do. It's a calculated risk ... and we all
take it.

And there is somewhat more risk in over-protecting a child from their
environment anyway, as the immune system *requires* a certain level of
challenges to develop proper and normal immunity to the ordinary gunk
of Real Life. Frex, it's been discovered that kids who grow up around
dogs and cats have a much lower incidence of allergies as adults,
because their immune systems got a useful level of challenge for
developing to best performance and least chance of overreaction
(allergy being essentially an immune overreaction). Eating a bit of
healthy garden dirt now and then isn't going to hurt a kid, in fact
it's far more likely to be good for 'em.

~REZ~