A Little Stinky and Gross

At the beginning of June, Snowy, an intern student from New Hampshire, stayed here at Pudding Creek for two weeks. Among other things, she and I created and built a new composting system. 

The next intern arrives in a week and have I got plans for her! Mornings will start with meditation and the week is punctuated with yoga classes. There is so much to do - we could build nesting habitats for mason bees (native pollinators) and barn swallows (they eat mosquitoes and swoop beautifully through the sky at sunset!). The apples are sizing up on the trees and even though it is only mid-summer, it is time to start preparing for fall and winter. 

The compost system that Snowy and I built is up and running, turning kitchen scraps and weeds into rich soil. Compost is nothing short of a miracle. I am sure that there is a powerful metaphor here - instead of piling the excess and waste of human consumption into an "out of sight, out of mind" spot that pollutes and stinks, something valuable is made. 

The thing about compost is that it takes time and the right ingredients. What time do you need and what ingredients do you need to digest your life? Yoga and mindfulness practices allow space for transformation. The miracle part is that we don't have to drive the transformation. It will happen, just like compost, if we allow time and the right ratio of ingredients. 

Join me! Let's compost life together! Anxiety, stress, depression, all of it are like the kitchen scraps of life - a little stinky and gross - until we create the conditions for transformation, potency, and growth.