Black Magic at Windmill!

Thursday was one of those grey and chilly days that makes gardeners want to curl up in a warm room with a mug of cocoa and a few seed catalogues. Tracey had noticed the forecast, and planned a relatively warm regime of moving wood about followed by sowing seeds in the polytunnel, but that all changed when our friend Pete, from our neighbours, the Mill Allotments, came to report that our compost delivery had arrived. 

Each year, Pete has arranged for several lorry loads of municipal compost to be brought to the site. We only have to pay towards delivery, so it's a great deal. It's even more valuable this year, because the old Speedo Factory that bordered the site is being demolished, and it's not clear if we'll have access in future to get a lorry through the carpark there (our track being too narrow for a lorry of any useful size).

Jai and Pete from the Mill work on their part of the delivery

Of course, the compost arriving has to take precedence in the work schedule, because if you don't collect it when it arrives, there is always the risk that some kind person will arrive and "tidy up" what they think is a freebie or "unwanted" resource! That meant all hands to the pump, and everyone taking a turn at forking our portion of the steaming heap into barrows. This was actually quite fun, with a nice group atmosphere developing, as people turned up from the Mill allotments and the Windmill allotments to get their shares and we all toiled alongside each other in harmony (with just a slight care that we were all keeping to the marked limits of our portions!)

An exotic bird-call turned out to be Edgar turning up with his squeaky-wheeled barrow. It was quite impressive and we were almost disappointed when he found some oil to fix it on the third trip (almost!). 

Edgar from Windmill with his amazing
squeaking barrow (now de-squeaked!) 

Municipal compost is created from the stuff that those of you with a compostables collection have been supplying. It is sometimes a bit twiggy, but we've found it pretty good. It does sometimes turn up some odd things. The last load we had contained 3 separate socks, which was a bit of a surprise! This one was still quite hot, so we warmed up from that as well as from the hard work.

Mark with the steaming pile!

We think this is a great example of recycling in action! It certainly makes a lot more sense than sending garden waste to landfill. Of course if you can make your own compost, even better.

Andrew on the return leg.