Gardening as a Spiritual Practice #3: Composting

To everything, turn, turn, turn...

There is a season, turn, turn, turn...

And a time for every purpose under heaven.

lyric by Pete Seeger based on the Book of Ecclesiastes

Composting in the Garden
Where DID the summer go? Yeah, astronomically it is summer until September 21 and the autumnal equinox, but no one told the trees and the birds out here at Mellow Meadows that. Rose breasted grosbeaks are gone. Swallows (both kinds) are outta' here. So have the wrens and the red winged blackbirds. Hummingbirds will be next to go. They are loading up on sweet nectar to fuel their trip. Ash trees are turning yellow. A type of maple my kids used to call the "skunk" tree have begun to turn red right down the middle. And in the veggie garden, the plants are either turning yellow and withering (tops of onions, cukes, zucchini), or they are pumping out flowers-that-will-never-have-time-to-fruit like crazy in a last ditch effort to reproduce (patty pan squash, beans, eggplant). Day lilies, echinacea, hostas are starting to look straggly, as if they are nearing a certain death. Other flowering plants like marigolds, nasturtiums, a fragrant late blooming white clematis, and chrysanthemums are in sync with those crazy veggies trying to set more and more and more seed with gorgeous brilliant blooms.

Nope, summer is history. The Fall Campaign has begun!

It is time to put the garden to bed. Yesterday, I ripped out the bean plants by their roots, snipped them into pieces and tossed the pieces into the compost box. EVERYTHING goes into that compost box. It is a magic place where slimy vegetable garbage from the kitchen and plant parts are turned into garden gold with a little bit of aged cow manure. Leaves, stems, roots if they are tender and small.... it all gets chopped up and popped in. We have a mini-garbage can on the kitchen counter and throw in all the coffee grounds, peelings, cores, pits, tips, rinds, and skins. Once a day it gets tossed in the compost box along with droppings from the chicken coop.

Most of the plants are pretty easy to break up into bits. Corn, on the other hand, requires an ax! Yeah, baby, its CHOP CHOP CHOP time for the corn stalks. There is something deeply satisfying about wielding an ax...very therapeutic... so, although it is hard work, it is not a task I try to avoid. We love the taste of freshly picked and quickly cooked organic corn, but bemoan the fact that we only get 1-2 cobs per stalk. And then there are the raccoons who also have a love-love-LOVE relationship with our corn. They seem to be able to sense when the kernels are at their sweetest... that's when they sneak into the garden (not noticeably under the fence or over the fence...I think they must know how to fly), push over the plants, peel back the husk, and nibble nibble nibble out those choice morsels. No arrangement of traps, no enticement into a have-a-heart, no discouragement at all stops those critters. When the corn is ripening, there are always raccoon ravaged plants that get chopped up along with the ones we harvest.

Mr. Wonderful helped a local lady earlier this year by removing a large manure pile from the property she was trying to sell. I guess she and her broker didn't see that manure pile as an asset! Too bad for them.... it's ours now! We layer the garden debris with the manure until it is full. Yep, shoveling shit is not a metaphor out here, it is part of the daily work in the garden. The manure is an essential part of the composting process supplying nutrients, heat, microbes, and worms. Our bodies get stronger and stronger as we pull, snip, chop plant parts and shovel manure. Next spring, after a nice long winter rest, our bodies will get back in shape as we shovel the garden gold out of the compost box into the veggie and flower beds.

Composting as a Spiritual Practice
I can't help but think of the composting process metaphorically, spending as much time as I do engaged in the actual work. Years ago, during a particularly difficult period in my life, I was fortunate to come across the work of Brother David Steindl-Rast (Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness). He proposed that it is not happy people who are grateful, but rather it is grateful people who are happy. In his view, when one can see all aspects of what is given in one's life as a gift, the doorway to happiness is opened.... that radical acceptance of "what is" and the ability to see the gift in "what is" has the power to transform the mundane (my worries, my problems, my fears.... me, me, ME)  into the magical (how might I use this to help others, what is the hidden blessing, understanding - ah yes, this is how others feel).... it transforms suffering or sorrow into gratitude and gladness. Brother David is not the only person who has had this insight and shared it with us. Many others from a variety of faiths have come to this understanding. Having an "attitude of gratitude" is the essence, in my view, of composting as a spiritual practice.

Radical acceptance of WHAT IS.... being able to see what is given as a gift.
YIKES.
Most of can easily do this when things are going well. Yeah,.... 'I got a raise because I work hard and deserve it'... 'I am physically fit and healthy'.... 'My children are all doing great in school'. Grateful for those blessings?? SURE! But what about the darker side of WHAT IS?   'I lost my job and haven't been able to find another'.... 'I am addicted to drugs or alcohol and have exhausted all my resources'... 'My long time spouse left me for another'. Those moments of greatest challenge are exactly the moments when composting can help... when the "shit" of life can become the fuel for transformation. Just like the real thing, spiritual composting isn't easy, nor is it immediate. It takes honest effort, time, and then some more time to turn garbage into gold. Patience.

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well! 

(Julian of Norwich 1342-1416)