04/05/09

Ever since I got here, I have been interested in growing different plants, vegetables, and trees. Unfortunately, the soil here isn't great at all, so I am working on making my own compost. I have been keeping coffee grounds, and some vegetable scraps. I also asked Norma to keep coffee grounds for me too since she goes through much more than I do since she serves all the groups that come in. In the back of our house there are some small rooms that were built. They are very small, smaller than a garden shed, but built out of concrete. None of them are used for anything, so I use one for compost. We have some bushes in the back that I trim up and throw in there. Earlier in the year, there were vines that were growing all over the roof of the buildings and I climbed up there and spent about an hour cutting them all off. If I didn't do that, they would have overgrown the backyard. I don't know what sort of vine it was, but it was taking over and growing over to the water reservoir. I remembered my hands turning black from the sap inside the vines. They were stained for two days and looked like I had dipped my hands in motor oil. I couldn't get the stains off with Gojo hand cleaner, alcohol, bleach, dish soap, or anything else I tried. In any case, I have been collecting whatever organic material I can and toss it in there from time to time to add to the pile. Well, one day, I had gone out there and was going to stir it with a shovel and noticed what looked like spores of mold going into the air. This may sound disgusting to some, but without mold, you aren't going to have anything breaking down and turning back into dirt. So, that was a good sign. Well, after I turned it, I noticed that the white cloud like particles were still rising. That's when I realized that it was steam coming off the compost. I had heard that when coffee grounds break down, they produce heat, but I didn't realize that it would be that hot. My first thought was that since it was hot, it had probably retained some heat from outside. But then, I remembered that it had rained the night before and cooled off quite a bit. The walls were actually cold to the touch. So, I borrowed a thermometer from Mr. Scott, the science teacher here, and stuck it inside a Ziploc bag and buried it in the center of the heap. Three hours later I came back, uncovered it and read the temperature at 118 degrees Fahrenheit. I couldn't believe that it got that hot.

I plan to used this soil in some of my planters and will give some to a few people in the neighborhood to show how a rich soil is better for growing plants. I am going to take some over to Emilien's house and plant some corn in it for him. His backyard is all sand, so there isn't much that he can grow. I had previously bought some charcoal and had hired a few boys from across the street to crush it up so I can mix it into the soil. At first they didn't have any idea what I was doing. They had asked why one of the pots in the back had soil that was so much darker than the other pots. I showed them what I add to the compost and they started helping. A few days later they started bringing me plants that they had pulled from their yard. One boy brought an almond tree, except he yanked it from the ground and the roots were destroyed. Someone brought two little plants that had just sprouted. I don't know what they are, but we transplanted them into a pot in the front yard and they are growing. Not sure what they are, but they are doing fine so far.

My next goal is to get some trees started, I have about five pomegranate trees growing, so when they get bigger, I will take a few over to the hotel and ask if I can plant two there. I also plan on planting one at the school. The others I will just give to whoever wants them and has space at their house. I'll try to post updates as I go along.