Poop, the food for the garden as told by fifth grader
- col-conservation-corner
- October 26, 2023
- 934
Laura was making breakfast, and she saw that the sun was shining brightly and there was a little bit of clouds in the sky. The sheep were baaaing, donkeys were making loud noises because they were happy it was a sunny day and the trees looked more green than ever before. Then she thought about her garden last year.
Her garden didn’t do well, and her plants kept dying. She wants to make it better this year. Last year she heard from a group of friends that composting makes the garden better for vegetables to grow. So this year she’s excited to try composting in her garden. Now she needs to talk to Ted about putting compost in the garden because it was the perfect day for composting.
Ted had already started last year by making two wooden walls that were 1-2 feet high on the sides, with a roof over the two walls so air could flow through it so it could dry out and get out the moisture. Then he collected organic material for his compost pile last year. He started by mixing food waste and the poop from his animals into the soil. Then he had to let it sit there in the little structure for three to six months.
To make compost, it needs to be about 150 F. A fun fact about composting is compost can get too hot and will catch on fire. Laura also wanted to have compost in her garden. She knew it will kill harmful bacteria and that bacteria won’t kill her new plants as well.
Ted put on his boots and grabbed a rake, a shovel and a wheel barrel. He walked over to the structure he built for the compost, and with his shovel he shoveled the compost into his wheel barrel and walked over the the garden. One hour passed and he was all done, and he went to the house and told Laura the garden was ready to be planted.
Laura was ready to plant all her vegetables and see if they would do better this year. One month later she went out to her garden. She felt excited because her plants were growing stronger and had no spots. She found out compost makes the plants healthier and the soil more nutrient rich. She is going to make compost for her garden every year from this time forward.
This essay was written by first-place winner Eliana Coblentz. SWCD held an essay contest after its fifth-grade field day.