madison in fall

brian, my host in madison, informed me about this cool farm called FH king student farm. when i looked at their website i found that they have an open welcome for volunteers to come between 11-4 most days. this is the way i like it.
the farm is adjacent to and on the property of a community garden of some 460 plots! close by are another 120 or so and this makes the combined number the most of any community garden of its kind in the u.s. that is what i was told, and i believe it. the bountiful little plots, obviously fed good compost and probably also fertilized by the manure of wild animals who pass through, spread out before me up a slope to the east from the SW entrance. quite a sight.
off in the distance i saw someone working with the compost bins of what i presumed was the farm. just my luck, i'd arrived at just the right time to help turn the compost! axel received me warmly and as we chatted and turned compost from one pallet bin to another another volunteer showed up. she had this huge smile beaming and i remarked, 'you are so BRIGHT! you're brighter than the sun!' (which was wonderfully bright that day). she then began to work beside me at turning the decomposing material, which thankfully was on the dry side.
i'm impressed with the practicality of their compost system. it is a sturdy row of eight pallet bins back to back. each section is two pallets wide and one deep, and the fronts are open. on either end of the row a pile is made against the end wall that is two pallets wide. the new material is piled on one end and digests for a while before being moved down the line.
the material that is recycled in their system comes from the university and residents of madison who participate in their food scrap pick-up program. this is done by bicycle with a huge trailer! the food scraps are mixed at the farm with shredded leaves delivered by a nearby municipality and various materials from the farm. the day i volunteered i brought the food scraps from the place i was staying.

composting side note:
recently checked in on this article on humanure composting i heard was going to be published in dirt magazine. i tried to hook the editor up with my friends who have a bucket toilet in new jersey, without success. it is a fun, short read and gives a hopeful outlook on humanity choosing sane sanitation systems, recycling all materials back into living systems!

a couple things i had hoped to do while in madison were to attend an ecstatic dance and to participate in building a cob oven that my friend, the superhero Periphery, was leading on. both of these i got to do! thursday evening was the wonderful session of ecstatic dance at center for conscious living. Periphery joined me for that and we both had an intimate and expansive, integrating experience. i really enjoy entering this free, accepting space to explore ways of expressing that i don't normally. it is the same with song circles.
the next day i went to the sight of the cob project, the house of a buddhist nun who is sharing her teachings. the project was far along already and i got to help with the fun plastering stage! i mixed plaster (1 part clay to three parts sand, mixed with water and straw)and then helped to apply it to the dome of this beautiful oven. it was decorated with a flame on the back and a drop of water on the front of the chimney. i've never worked with cob before and this was a real joy for me. i'm so grateful for periphery sharing this with me.

cob ovens are being built all over the place these days. one was recently built at a school on the island where i was making my home before this trip, orcas island. my younger brother helped to coordinate the event and build it. you can find pictures here.

periphery encouraged me to check out a project called 'troy gardens', which is part of community ground works. i did not make myself aware of their friday volunteer opportunity, so missed out on it. another example in the madison area of people working for great positive change!