Charging the Compost Pits

Every effort was made to fill a pit to the brim within one week.  If there wasn’t enough material to fill an entire pit within one week, then a portion of one pit would be filled to the top.  To preserve good aeration, every effort was made to avoid stepping on the material while filling the pit.  As mixtures of manure and bedding were brought out from the cattle shed they were thinly layered atop thin layers of mixed vegetation brought in from the dried reserves heaped up adjacent to the compost factory.  Each layer was thoroughly wet down with a clay slurry made of three ingredients:  water, urine-earth, and actively decomposing material from an adjacent compost pit that had been filled about two weeks earlier.  This insured that every particle within the heap was moist and was coated with nitrogen-rich soil and the microorganisms of decomposition.  Today, we would call this practice “mass inoculation.”

Pits Versus Heaps

India has two primary seasons.  Most of the year is hot and dry while the monsoon rains come from dune through September.  During the monsoon, so much water falls so continuously that the earth becomes completely saturated.  Even though the pits were under a roof, they would fill with water during this period.  So in the monsoon, compost was made in low heaps atop the ground.  Compared to the huge pits, their dimensions were smaller than you would expect:  7 x 7 feet at the top, 8 x 8 feet at the base and no more than 2 feet high.  When the rains started, any compost being completed in pits was transferred to above-ground heaps when it was turned.

Howard was accomplishing several things by using shallow pits or low but very broad heaps.  One, thermal masses were reduced so temperatures could not reach the ultimate extremes possible while composting.  The pits were better than heaps because air flow was further reduced, slowing down the fermentation, while their shallowness still permitted sufficient aeration.  There were enough covered pits to start a new heap every week.

Temperature Range in Normal Pit

Age in days Temperature in degree C

3 63 4 60 6 58 11 55 12 53 13 49 14 49

First Turn

18 49 20 51 22 48 24 47 29 46

Second Turn

37 49 38 45 40 40 43 39 57 39

Third Turn

61 41 66 39 76 38 82 36 90 33

Period in days for each fall of 5i C

Temperature Range No. of Days

65 degree-60 degree 4 60 degree-55 degree 7 55 degree-50 degree 1 50 degree-45 degree 25 45 degree-40 degree 2 40 degree-35 degree 44 35 degree-30 degree 14

Total 97 days

Turning

Turning the compost was done three times:  To insure uniform decomposition, to restore moisture and air, and to supply massive quantities of those types of microbes needed to take the composting process to its next stage.