@Taste Corner: Black Gold, A Devoted Dog and Welcoming Spring!

Today has been such an exciting and wonderful day. 🌞 We had lovely warm weather and it was just the perfect day to be outside. So perfect that I had to walk on the grass barefoot 💖. I was in a state of peace while walking on the cool grass. I spent my whole morning cooking in the garden. Cooking, you might wonder? Well yes, I was cooking up absolutely scrumptious compost, a.k.a Black Gold! Compost isn't rich in N-P-K (nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium) which one may encounter on a fertilizer label. It acts as more of an enricher/soil conditioner, making nutrients more accessible to the soil. My plan was to layer the ingredients in a terracotta pot just like lasagna layers and await for the compost to be ready in 3-4 months. Smell is an excellent indicator of when the compost is ready. If it has a rich earthy smell, the compost is ready; if it gives off an unpleasant odor that means it needs more time to mature. This is my second year pitching in to our family composting project. I gathered up all the ingredients that I needed to make my compost from various organic materials scattered around our backyard. I used one tall tub of food scraps, two tubs of homemade compost (leftover from the previous year), two tubs of green leaves, two tubs of dead plant material, one small tub of earthworms, one big box of regular garden soil, and finally some water.

Ingredients Needed

Step 1 - Getting our terracotta pots ready

Step 2 - Adding soil as the first layer

Step 3 - Adding food scraps for nitrogen

Step 4: Adding green leaves for nitrogen

Step 5 - Adding dead plant material for carbon
(dead leaves, twigs, branches, coco peat)

Step 6 - Last but not least, don't forget to add soil and earthworms. When adding earthworms, make sure to give them enough water, as hot temperatures can kill them. By adding earthworms to the compost, the composting process speeds up tremendously.

Note: Repeat the layering  process until the compost bin is completely filled up, finally finishing off with the dead plant material.

This project is the best way I can think of Welcoming Spring! Spring reminds me of my Iranian colleague who would bring our co-workers a variety of desserts around this time, in celebration of Nowruz (the Iranian New Year, and the start of spring). 

I had so much fun taking pictures and sharing my composting thoughts, but please do share your composting tips and tricks in the comments section. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Last but not least, I couldn't end this blog post without writing a book review. The book I picked for my February read is from one of my favorite suspense genres. "Devoted" by Dean Koontz is quite a remarkable story. The story follows eleven year old Woody Bookman who is autistic, mute, and a brilliant computer hacker. He lives with his widowed mother, Megan Bookman. The family is constantly terrorized by hitmen, who are quite intent on killing them. Being a brilliant hacker, Woody finds that his dad was murdered and not killed in a freak accident. Kipp, a golden retriever, is unlike any other dog. Kipp is one of the "Mysterium" dogs. They are highly intelligent just like human beings, possibly being the result of genetic engineering. Nobody exactly knows of their origin. The Mysterium dogs stay in touch with one another through the "Wire", a telepathic medium for dogs to stay in touch. One day, Kipp hears a murmur on the Wire from an unknown human boy (Woody) seeking help, and ventures out to find him. Ben Hawkins, a kind hearted NAVY seal, assists Kipp in finding Woody. Kipp learns all about the murder of Woody's father through their telepathic connection. A key moment in the story is when Megan calls the dog "Scooby", and Woody speaks for the first time in his eleven years to respond: "No, his name is Kipp!".