On Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:26:23 +1100, "FarmI" wrote:

I certainly wasn't joking when I told him he used to use sweat as an
ingredient. Unless or until he learns to add that, he won't have compost -
he'll simply have rotted vegetation. I see no problems with the rotted
vegetation approach either, but if he wants to go that way, he will need to
understand that he doesn't pile it, he spreads it and them has to a
potential weed problem unless he also learns how to use the rotted
vegetation.

That's not strictly true. What the "sweat" (turning) adds is oxygen, but
there are other ways of providing that, easiest of which is to alternate
the layers of vege scraps with layers of straw that trap air in the
pile. The Humanure Handbook actually recommends that over turning, as
turning tends to break the mycelia of all the fungi in the pile.

I'm not saying that turning is bad (it's good!), just that it isn't the
only answer.
--
Ross McKay, Toronto, NSW Australia
"And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden."
-- Rudyard Kipling