NY2NO

Today was a compost marathon! Since we went on an extensive tour of the ninth ward by the one and only Nat Turner, there was twice as much organic waste from whole foods. We decided to make up for the day of missed work by putting twice as many people on the job.

It was my first time working compost here and to be honest, it was a welcome break from the never ending dirt heap we were sorting through to prepare the new lot for farming. The heaps of colorful compost of steaming smoking monsters of metabolism. Each morning the staff of Our School picks up big boxes of organic waste from Whole Foods that consists of all of the fruit cores and vegetable parts that they use to prepare their foods as well as the produce they deem unfit to sell. It's amazing the things this place throws away.

After rummaging through the boxes you can find whole apples that are only slightly bruised or perfectly good lettuce! At one point we were chopping up red-green lettuce and argula and peppers with our shovels. It was like we were preparing a salad for a giant. We gave some of the grains and lettuce to the chickens who were really happy with their daily treat. After a few wheel borrows fill of pinapple cores, corn husks, and apple peels, we put a layer of chicken manure on top. It was a dirty job but someone had to do it.

 After a delicious lunch and a brief sun nap, we went back to work to find a mysterious yet familiar smell billowing from David's pick-up truck. It was filled with coffee grounds from a local brewery. David is a graduate student from Washington State who is interning at Our School. He put us through an intensive Compost 101 since he's been studying urban argiculture.David sloshed around in the back of the truck as we digged the grinds out and put it right on top of everything else.

The heap kept growing as we were charged with the task of tranferring an all ready composting heap on top of it. It was gross but amazing. The pile had been building for a few weeks so inside it was already cooking. Steam was piping off of it right in from of our eyes. There was even white ash inside of it. It was amazing to see nature at work. The waste that could have ended up in a garbage dump strategically placed in a poor neighborhood was now having a positive effect. It made me realize that everything has the potential for good, it all depends on how you use it.

We watched Fresh, a documentary about local and organic food before during our dinner of grilled cheese and chili. It's really not the movie to watch while eating. It really drove home the point about thinking about what you're eating and what effect it has on the type of society you live in. We discussed the movie during debrief and it seems we came the conclusion the the standardization and specialization of the argiculutural industry is applied to other aspects of our lives such as education and just like we learned in the movie, sometimes things just need to time to cook to work.