On picking up random stuff off the forest floor. Went out yesterday looking for that "humus" layer that I intended to bring back to make my tea with. Well, it just ain't there. If it is there, it's not more than an inch thick, so, I guess I kind of need to rethink the whole humus thing. Maybe just a shovel two of the first 6" or so of soil would do the trick of adding good microbes to my tea. However, I think I did figure out what "sand loam" actually is. All these trees are planted on sand land and there is this very interesting sandy textured soil that is just below the leaf surface. I'd bet money that that is what's considered sand loam. Anyway, thinking now that I might just put some of that in the bucket with my alfalfa tea (yeah, I started brewing a 30 gallon can of it... yippee, I pulled another trigger). Also started thinking of some other materials that might be interesting to add to the tea for the purposes of increasing the microbial population. In particular, there is a "stump hole" of a pine tree that is probably 30+ years old that I can reach my whole arm down inside of and pull out this interesting peat like material. Thinking that probably has all kinds of good creatures in it. Then there is this area in a bottom that kind of stays wet for long periods that kind of has a similar material in it. Might consider using it.... at least the surface maybe. Could that harbor some bad stuff because it remains wet over a portion of the year? Anyway, just thought I'd update so there is no confusion in that I'm interested in teas in general.

the original discussion i believe was about the use of ammonia in what is termed 'drunken compost' 12 oz beer , 12 oz cola [soda] , 8 oz ammonia in a sprayer set to empty that quart of mix into 20 gallons of water creating a 256:1 final mix. this accelerates the compost process to the point that it can be applied to the garden as a mulch in 2 weeks. increased growth and fruiting are observed. increased worm populations are also observed. the reason for organics is to keep certain toxic compounds out of the food supply. it does not guarantee quality. quality is assumed. we now collide with man's penchant for fanaticism. all chemical fertilizers and compounds not having been created via a biological process or mined out of the earth in some way [some of which are not healthful at all though certified organic. azomite {very high in aluminium} comes to mined] have been termed as toxic compounds which may not be entirely true. the irresponsible use of anything can be harmful. then we have the whole salt index discussion which is more prevalent in soil with low organic matter.which brings another discussion the real culprit is often a lack of organic matter more than anything else. more later

Hi, I am somewhat dissapointed today,,,,, I got my compost delivered and generally the quality seems fine. Inside of the 10 tons pile its really warm. When I showel it into my wheelbarrow it´s steaming. It smells as well "good". BUT,,,,,,, I have a problem with bringig it to my lawn,,,,,, there is pieces of roots, wood, bark in the compost which are apparentely still worked by bacteria and fungi. Those pieces are warm as well and feel soft. But if I bring this on my lawn , the wood-pieces will stay on top of the turf and only smallest pieces sink onto the soil. Even if I brush it in different directions, back and forward..... What can I do? Leave the compost on a pile until the wood decomposes further ? Or "filter" the bigger pieces from the smaller ones (lots of work probably). My father in law opts for anyhow throwing the compost to the lawn,,,,,,,,, but its not him that is going to ruin his new lawn-mower cutting bark, wood and roots with the next lawnmowing.... Any info welcome,,,, Thanks & a nice weekend,,,,,

O.K., here goes. (we have had an extremely wet year here thus far and things are not typical at all. In fact, this is of my back compost pile where I am dumping my kitchen compost bucket at present. You can see that it is too wet. As soon as things dry out some I will take s few front loader scoops of the shredded leaves described below and dump them in this pile and stir it up. It was cooking well until we got so much rain and with almost daily rains, sometimes twice per day, it has just become water logged. As I previously stated tilling my pile is one of the key things that helps me make it that fine. It is easy and only takes a few minutes. I let it go through the first heat cycle and cool down then run the tiller into it, let it climb up and dig in and drag it back with the tines still turning. That grinds, mixes and aerates it pretty thoroughly and allows me to be sure that it is uniformly moist thought out. The structure of the components are weakened at that point so nothing winds up around the tines. I pile it back up adding in any new material that I may have available at the time and it heats back up a time or two after doing this. If I may have your indulgence here, in the event that you or anyone else is interested, I will link a bunch of pictures to give an over view of the "big picture" of the way I make compost. I have many oak leaves from the trees on my property, plus, my neighbors are happy to donate to get rid of them cause they do not compost or garden. I have two composting areas and can alternate starting a hot pile in one place, while saving shredded leaves in another one. I use a lot of the shredded leaves for mulch in the garden, make compost out of some and usually apply a good layer of them as amendments along with compost, aged horse manure, and green manure from knee high greens that I mow and mulch with my mower after the first of the year. As the main component of my compost, and depending on the condition of the leaves, I usually with my big mower. I can easily shred them to , or take just a little bit more time and shred them up like which would become compost pretty quickly if just piled up damp and stirred or turned a time or two. However, I prefer to add other ingredients like some aged horse manure, my kitchen scraps and garden waste etc., and for awhile was getting a lot of for the diversity of it. I think that it would probably be pretty excellent compost without the other things added, but I enjoy doing it and can imagine in my mind that it all works and comes together in the after being applied in the winter as an amendment and before the shredded leaf mulch is put down. In addition to the little front scoop bucket and lift which enables me to pile the compost back up in just about three or four minutes, I have built a number of other handy attachments that help like to use to fluff or aerate the pile in between tillings. It only takes three or four minutes with that. Due to my age and health concerns, I need all the help that I can get in order to do what I do. That is just how I do it, and the reason that I do it. I hope that it helps someone in some way. I am not in any way suggesting that it is the only, or the best way to do things, it is just what I have worked out that works well for me, and some of it might be useful to someone else. Bill P.