Garden
The compost that finally heated
For two years it was just a wet pile. Then it steamed, and I stood there like I had invented fire.
Astrid Voss
I kept adding peel and grass and hoping. It stayed cold and sour. A neighbour said I needed more brown, which sounded like an insult until I dumped in last autumn's leaves.
One morning in March there was steam. I put my hand over it and felt heat that had nothing to do with the weather. I did not tell anyone for a week in case it stopped.
What I put in now
Leaves, cardboard, the peel I used to throw in the bin. No cooked leftovers. I learned that after a smell I will not describe.
