chef Kabui
Ten foot Jerusalem Artichokes are all the evidence I need to prove the power of organic compost. The scraps of organic food from the kitchen are feed to earth worms, and they produce black gold. Most people use leaves that the city collects from people’s yards at the end of the Fall Season until the next Spring. As most lawns in the US are treated with herbicide and weed killers such Roundup, it is logical to assume that literally the whole pile of leaves are contaminated.
But the kicker starts even before urban houses are built. The first two things that home building companies make money on is selling the trees that they chop down and the top soil from the lots. After the houses are built, a small thin carpet of grass is laid on the dead soil left after all the top soil has been sold. That means that you have to constantly add chemical fertilizer to the grass to make it into the perfectly green lawn we all have become accustomed to. That means that that grass is terrible for composting, and worse for our environment.
For that reason, I bring back my banana peels and other fresh fruit peels to add to my compost. If I do dinners elsewhere and there are any waste vegetables, I carry them home, too. That is another reason why I will only cook organic food. That is the only way it would make sense. I tried to do a bit or inorganic cooking and it was disastrous. I want to live without any more guilt. I am old enough to know better. I now know that I can either make money or make sense, but I haven’t figured or seen anyone making both.
The biggest benefit is the lessons I learn along with my children. They just don't know yet the value and usefulness they are absorbing. My daughter was in charge of making the garden this year. It is her connection to who she really is and where she comes food. It all bows down to food. Food is our life, prayers and our being. Instead of saying Amen, we say Just Food, even at the pain of death. Death to Fiat Food. Thayù