Diary of a Compost Hotline Operator: Edible Essays on City Farming

by Spring Gillard

What do you do with Doggy-Doo? Can I put corks in my compost bin? Do worms have lungs? Why is my compost full of thousands of tiny white flies? Vital questions such as these are the lot of a Compost... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0865714924
• ISBN13: 9780865714922
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: New Society Publishers
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

compost humor

I loved this book. puts a funny, witty humor twist on something tht can be boring like composting. I found myself unable to put it down, becasue you felt part of their everyday lives trying to brign the farm mentality to teh city folk...

A lot more than compost

You could read this book just for the fun of it. Or you could read it to get a thorough grounding in all the current basic reduce, re-use, recycle wisdom.The writer works to City Farmer, an organization in Vancouver, Canada that specializes in urban agriculture and in enhancing the sustainability of our cities. The writer may spend some time as operator of a compost hotline but she knows an awful lot about all the ecological issues facing people who live in cities. Similarly, while she lives in Vancouver, her writing is relevant to almost all cities.In the eight chapters she deals lightly with compost, bugs, cob houses, yard waste, water conservation, dog (and cat) poop, and critter control. Nowhere does the reader felled preached to. There is no "You ought to....or else" There are just gentle, humorous stories and observations. If you discovered something new to you (Wow! Bags of dog poop can explode in the compactor of a garbage truck! Who knew?) then maybe you might act on that. There is also a chapter on urban agriculture initiatives in New York and in Havana, and the issues facing the people involved in those cities. Each chapter ends with a generous list of resources, mostly publications, websites and organizations.There is so much delicious jam enfolding the pill of learning that you don't know you're swallowing it. This bok was a delight when it might have been a bore. I enjoyed it tremendously.

More than just compost

You could read this book just for the fun of it. Or you could read it to get a thorough grounding in all the current basic reduce, re-use, recycle wisdom.The writer works to City Farmer, an organization in Vancouver, Canada that specializes in urban agriculture and in enhancing the sustainability of our cities. The writer may spend some time as operator of a compost hotline but she knows an awful lot about all the ecological issues facing people who live in cities. Similarly, while she lives in Vancouver, her writing is relevant to almost all cities.In the eight chapters she deals lightly with compost, bugs, cob houses, yard waste, water conservation, dog (and cat) poop, and critter control. Nowhere does the reader felled preached to. There is no "You ought to....or else" There are just gentle, humorous stories and observations. If you discovered something new to you (Wow! Bags of dog poop can explode in the compactor of a garbage truck! Who knew?) then maybe you might act on that. There is also a chapter on urban agriculture initiatives in New York and in Havana, and the issues facing the people involved in those cities. Each chapter ends with a generous list of resources, mostly publications, web sites and organizations.There is so much delicious jam enfolding the pill of learning that you don't know you're swallowing it. This bok was a delight when it might have been a bore. I enjoyed it tremendously.