The most delightful book ever - 1960 Complete Book of Compost

ScottinAtlanta · September 12, 2014

While at Goodwill, I picked up for $1.25 today the "Complete Book of Composting" by J.I. Rodale and staff (Of Organic Gardening and Farmer Magazine). Copyright 1960. About 1,000 pages. If you have never read this book, you should. It is delightful. The history of composting alone is great. Here is a sample:

"In the soft, warm bosom of a decaying compost heap, a transformation from life to death and back again is taking place."

"The searcher after the compostable will go in the strangest places. He will clean out the shop of a butcher in order to retain the sweepings of sawdust saturated with an aroma of meat and entrails which are rich in nitrogen. He will do the same for a lazy neighbor's chicken house if he can exact the chicken droppings as payment. He will go to a barber for the hair cuttings, to a restaurant for coffee grounds, to a fish market for fish offal. He will all but mow the neighbors lawn for the grass clippings. He will gather rubbish, trash, refuse, debris, decaying animal and vegetable remains, cast-off materials-anything decomposable. He will forget pride, dignity and his delicate sensibilities, so long as he comes into possession of the kind of detritus matter which will turn into a proper compost."

September 12, 2014	#1
ScottinAtlanta Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 2,593	The most delightful book ever - 1960 Complete Book of Compost While at Goodwill, I picked up for $1.25 today the "Complete Book of Composting" by J.I. Rodale and staff (Of Organic Gardening and Farmer Magazine). Copyright 1960. About 1,000 pages. If you have never read this book, you should. It is delightful. The history of composting alone is great. Here is a sample: "In the soft, warm bosom of a decaying compost heap, a transformation from life to death and back again is taking place." "The searcher after the compostable will go in the strangest places. He will clean out the shop of a butcher in order to retain the sweepings of sawdust saturated with an aroma of meat and entrails which are rich in nitrogen. He will do the same for a lazy neighbor's chicken house if he can exact the chicken droppings as payment. He will go to a barber for the hair cuttings, to a restaurant for coffee grounds, to a fish market for fish offal. He will all but mow the neighbors lawn for the grass clippings. He will gather rubbish, trash, refuse, debris, decaying animal and vegetable remains, cast-off materials-anything decomposable. He will forget pride, dignity and his delicate sensibilities, so long as he comes into possession of the kind of detritus matter which will turn into a proper compost."