The Lowdown on Dirt

I just watched the movie "Dirt: The Movie" (available through Netflix and probably your local public library) and decided it was time to put a plug in for one of nature's most precious resources. The good earth, compost, soil, but my favorite word to call it is dirt. Yes that stuff you used to play in when you were a kid and hated like heck when the day was done to be called inside by your mother who was intent on washing it off of you. Kids are on to a good thing here and many of us adults seem to forget just how much fun dirt is.

A book available through the Public Libraries of Saginaw entitled "Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations" by David R. Montgomery is must reading if you care about your own future. Montgomery takes the reader through the history of dirt and how it relates to the rise and fall of civilizations. We abuse this most important of natural resources to our own peril.

Here I am holding some dirt from my backyard.



The dirt in this compost barrel is near ready to use.

Here is my future dirt holder (i.e. the compost bin) Making compost for your garden is probably one of the most important things you can do for it (and the planet). I use my kitchen scraps (except meat which attracts unwanted critters), grass clippings (what little I have as I mostly don't have grass anymore), and leaves. You want the brown (leaves) and the green (grass clippings) to mix in together and eventually you will have that life sustaining black gold called compost. You don't have to have a barrel to do this. You can just make a pile if you want. But don't throw those leaves away, and be aware, there are leaf thieves out there! You can read all about them in Confessions of a Leaf Thief.

Here are some leaves I chopped up with my lawnmower. Great stuff for future dirt.

Throw me on the compost heap when I die. Yep, that's me and my sister; from dust ye come and to dust ye shall return. I am a proud member of the future dirt society.