TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
Bunk’s “Nearing style” compost heaps
I was interviewed for an apple article recently by an old friend I haven’t seen in years. One of her questions was about mentors. I was fortunate to have several. One of them was Scott Nearing. Although I never had a personal conversation with him, I did hear him speak several times in the 1970’s and early ’80’s. He was an amazing speaker as well as a pacifist, radical thinker and farmer. Just what we need more of! He wrote dozens of books about economics and political history and also about homesteading. The Establishment alternately dismissed or hated him, depending on how correct he was. He and Helen were instrumental in my early move to “the land” in Palermo. I visited their farm in Cape Rosier three times and did my best to study everything they did. Every time I build a new compost pile, I think of them. I loved their “heaps”, and ours are a direct steal. All our stone work, including our garden wall, is also a Nearing steal. Their book, Living the Good Life, is a classic as is his autobiography, The Making of a Radical. I mention him today because I think of him on August 6 and 9 every year. The Atomic Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on his 52nd birthday—79 years ago. Nagasaki was three days later on the 9th. Let’s hope that never happens again.