It Smells Like Death, but it is Life!

I bet this precious load will compost down to just a tablespoon.

Urban farming presents some challenges. Space. Sunlight. Ability to compost.

A couple years ago in a rental home, our first dwelling (as adults) with a yard, composting was causing me great anxiety. It was fall, and we were breaking ground for a garden so we'd be prepared come spring. And, in preparation, we started composting, too.

But I literally composted in secret. I scoped out the backyard, choosing a section in the far corner that seemed the least visible to any of the neighbors. I dug a sizable hole, arranged wooden ties around it, and hoped it looked like a raised bed.

When it would be time to do the dirty dumping, I'd scurry out quickly, bowl of food scraps in hand, and try to block the neighbors' view with my body as I emptied the bowl into the hole. I kept a shovel leaning against the fence so I could immediately bury the soon-to-be-stinky secret. I'd sometimes even dump under cover of darkness.

Of course, all of this surely was for naught, since the compost pit soon attracted every crow in the neighborhood. If you were a crow looking for a good time, our back fence was the place to be.

Did our neighbors notice? Did they mind? Were they cursing us and our murder of crows? Could they smell a whiff of anything if they sidled up to the fence? Seriously, these questions plagued me.

Maybe my anxiety was really born out of it being a rental property (we shouldn't have worried, by the way--after we moved, our landlord later called us and told us how happy he'd been when he came by to check out the house, particularly with how well the backyard had been taken care of--so go figure--all that worrying for nothing), because it never even occurred to me to question composting when we moved into the Edmonton house.

I like my neighbors quite a bit. But why would I worry about whether or not they approve of my composting...or my alley gardening for that matter?

Now I figure, anyone who is against composting, or opposed to turning unused urban spaces into something productive...well how valuable can their opinion really be?

So no need to question. Composting is an absolute must!!! This doesn't work in apartments, of course, but if you have access to the outdoors, you can compost. You don't need a fancy system, and you definitely don't need a lot of space. A hole, a bucket, a bin, a pile--any of these will do. If kept moist and full of good flora, your organics will break down into a tiny fraction of their original mass in no time.

And thank goodness, because now in my second summer of reclaiming the alleyway, my poison-soil is still in desperate need of nutrients!!!