This is the second time Rebecca’s ex-husband David has volunteered to come over and teach whoever wants to learn, the intricacies of perfect compost, which, for him requires manure. That’s the first criterion, and we had to get it before he would come over. So we did. On Friday, after the Thursday dinner; before the CSA.

Here’s Dan, “pretending to be a union man” while Solan and Rebecca do the heavy work. The pick-up, by the way, was borrowed from Dandelion Village, across town.

Protected overnight, in case of rain.

Then, in the morning, Dan decided to be the manure bucket man.

They spent some time on the structure to hold the compost —

— and David spent a lot of time explaining, as well as building up the compost pile, which of course is layered.

David said if you use sticks, put them at the bottom; otherwise, layer manure or soil above any rotting food. (Yes! Finally, all the rotting stuff we’ve got had around here in buckets just waiting for this day!) They also layered some old leaves and lots of fresh greens (burdock grows aplenty around here).

Attaching the front board to keep the whole thing in.

It’s one humungous pile, and should decompose quickly. Stay tuned.