Rotten

When I finished my allocated tasks at work the other day, I headed to the acute bay in theatre to bathe in the ambient germs until the duty anaesthetist could be shamed into sending me home. Here is where I must confess that I personally haven’t seen a single patient with COVID 19 at the hospital. We have had several admitted, and one remains in ICU, but I haven’t personally laid eyes on any of them. I did not think I’d be able to say that this far into an epidemic. Thanks Jacinda!
There were a number of interesting conversations going on amongst the handful of anaesthetists present, and the best was on the topic of composting. The bokashi system sounds as unappealing as you might imagine. I can’t see that a set up that oozes a thin foul smelling anaerobic liquid is something you’d want to encourage in your kitchen. However, the Big Pig Swedish rotational composting system sounded much more impressive. So much so, that when I got home, I ordered one on line immediately. It turns out that composting systems, like the Easter bunny, are an essential service. Thanks again, Jacinda! It was extremely expensive so if it turns out that my colleague has some sort of financial interest in the company, I’ll be quite cross.  (When I told him later I’d ordered one online, he was I think gratified, but did caution that when they first got theirs, it oozed a foul smelling liquid too – something he hadn’t mentioned in his earlier rave reports – although it was apparently easily fixed with the addition of a scoop of sawdust with every bucket of kitchen waste).
I like the idea of composting, but have never managed to make a go of it. I bought a complicated multilayered plastic bin arrangement about fifteen years ago, and have never really got anything useful out of it. Mind you, the lid flew off in the wind a few weeks after I bought it, so that may potentially have hampered its performance. Every few years I get a couple of spadefulls of stuff that looks a bit like compost but with egg shells and other identifiable solid bits in it, that I optimistically put around plants in my garden. It hasn’t killed anything but it’s chief effect appears to be the appearance of new weeds, and lots of new tomato plants, for some reason. Every couple of years or so, one of my nephews compostible nappies appears, looking as good as new, which is surprising as he is now 12. I’m guessing compostible is a relative term in this instance. I put it back in at the top in the hope that the next circuit will be the winner.
My colleague tells me he gets good quality compost every couple of months or so with his system, so I’m very keen to put it to the test. Will let you know. (With the proviso that the set up looks rather complicated, and I’m not confident I’m going to be able to get it up and running without any power tools at my disposal. But I mustn’t be pessimistic).