We had five depressions of compost next to each other. Fresh dung was heaped in the first one where only raw dung stayed for about one month without any additions, deductions or disturbances of whatever nature. This was the stage when flies really loved that particular spot.
The other lovers of this spot at this stage were dung beetles that like flies harvested where they did not sow by rolling chunks of dung away to build their homes nearby or far off and laid their eggs therein. That was ecosystem-taking place and after all, life is supposed to be “live and let others live or be and let others be.”
During the second month, wet dung started drying up into chunks. We put on our boots and with shovels and hoes went inside the spot and turned the dung upside down to break it into small portions. What was proving to be hard due to extreme heat, we broke down with small hammers, tongs, trowels the back of the hoes.
We let it stay for another month and broke it down further during the fourth month. By the fifth month, it was looking dark, rich and nice with earthworms and white fat segmented worms rolling around making it their home. The two broke it down further to humus and that is when we knew that it was ready to be used.
By this time it had reduced in volume to merely half of what it was originally. It was ready to be added to the land. Pails and wheel burrows of it was carried to the land. Plants were very happy to receive it as it promoted their development.
Four other depressions of dung carried dung in different stages of decomposition. At any one time one lot was ready for usage. It was really beneficial to the soil and whatever was growing therein. Weeds competed with the plants where humus was put, but we were also ready to tackle them via uprooting and weeding.
Some of the weeds were actually cattle feed and as we uprooted them, we were harvesting feed. Some of the farmhouse wastes and crops’ leftovers the animals did not like, all formed part of the compost.
The leftover grass from the feeding troughs for the cattle and poultry was either used as mulch for some crops like bananas or put on the fifth compost spot to be used on the land after it had been broken down to humus by us and worms. This is also where we put leaves from trees when pruning had been done especially those not eaten by the animals.