A question of heat

Further to my post about using my day job to work through my own questions about life, the universe and imaginary friends, I would like to add composting to the list. Yes, in a cunning move, I have gone to the source and got some advice – or should I say counselling – about the compost situation.

I have been worried about heat. Or should I say the lack of heat. It’s a common problem in many relationships – particularly those ‘I love him but I’m not IN love with him’ conundrums so beloved of women’s magazines (I should know, I wrote a story about it last year). But now I have the definitive answer.

It doesn’t matter.

Well, not as far as the compost is concerned anyway (as to matters of the heart, you’re on your own… or left to reading articles in women’s magazines, anyway).

Wade, one of the incredibly cheerful and passionate chaps who first evoked my affair with composting at the workshop he conducted last year (with his mate Jason), tells me that the lack of heat does not mean that the compost is not working. In fact, he told me, when I rang him under the guise of interviewing him for a piece for Australia Today, that some compost experts believe that heat actually destroys the nutrients in the compost.

HA! Take that all the naysayers who told me that my lukewarm mix would never make it.

Actually, I have to include myself in that group.

So now it’s time to try to rekindle my initial interest in the whole subject. Bring back the heady days of chopping up broccoli stalks for easy disintegration. ‘Fluff’* it regularly to ensure aeration.

As with any relationship, the road back may be hard.

But at least I know where to find the expert to help.

*Yes, that is the term. Yes, I worked at CLEO long enough to know that it has several meanings. No, I never imagined I’d use it either – especially in relation to compost.