Peter's Rules of Composting - A 12-Part Series
Rule 2: To Learn to Compost, One Must Compost
Composting requires an understanding of several basic principles, but book learning only goes so far. Fully understanding the art and science of composting requires hands-on experience and a considerable amount of practice.
Most people encounter four psychological stages when learning a new skill. The four stages include:
Stage 1 - Unconscious Incompetence (You don't know what you don't know)
Stage 2 - Conscious Incompetence (You know what you don't know)
Stage 3 - Conscious Competence (You know what you know)
Stage 4 - Unconscious Competence (You don't know what you know)
With regard to composting, most people have a basic understanding that it involves a natural process that converts raw organic materials into something that looks like soil. But when we use the phrase "aerated composting", most people aren't quite sure what we mean (Stage 1).
I then explain that "aerated composting" means that we introduce airflow into the compost pile to maintain aerobic conditions throughout the pile in order to optimize the biology of the system, and that turning the pile is not required. I go on to say that the net result of this biologic process is the production of heat and that we utilize this heat to destroy pathogens, parasites and weed seeds in the mix to produce a high-quality finished product in about 60 days. Just before their eyes glaze over, they likely say to themselves, "There's more to this than I thought" (Stage 2).
With the O2Compost Training Program, we teach people the step-by-step process to compost (let's say) the manure and waste bedding produced by six horses, and we guide them through our training process from beginning to end. At first they may think, "What have I gotten myself into" but they dutifully monitor the composting process, make note of their observations, and ask a lot of questions. Together we refine their method of operating the system so that it works effectively and automatically with every new batch (Stage 3).
They then go on to operate their O2Compost System completely on their own and week after week, year after year, they continue to compost without giving it a second thought. At this point, they seldom take pile temperatures anymore because they "just know" by the way it looks and smells that everything is working just fine. They say to their friends, "It's really quite easy - my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner" (Stage 4).
The First Corollary of Rule 2: "You can't learn to ride a bicycle at a seminar."
Previous Rules:
Rule 1: Start with the End in Mind (April Newsletter)
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