I have been very public about the fact that I’ve procured
rabbits for the primary purpose of fertilizing my garden. So far, I count the experiment as a
success. All the manure from January to
mid-March went into my winter compost and then went into the three raised beds
I built for our garden. Rabbit poo is
virtually odorless and dry—nothing really nasty about it.
But, this week I decided to try out the “manure tea” that
I’ve read about in countless organic gardening publications
and websites (Don’t believe it’s so popular? Just google it—54,800 hits). I tried it, and I found it absolutely
revolting. First, “manure tea” may be
the grandest euphemism I’ve ever confronted.
One blogger more appropriately terms this liquid fertilizer “poop
soup.” It’s nasty.
Here is the basic premise: you put manure in a bucket of water
for a few days and then you have an
organic hippy version of Miracle Gro: just pour it into a watering pot,
sprinkle it on the garden, and book yourself a spot in the watermelon
competition at the state fair.
I do everything I can to keep chemicals and synthetic
fertilizers out of my garden, but I can only carry this ethic so far. In my defense, I am willing to deal with
rabbit manure, and I am the father of three little kids. I firmly believe that there are things in
life that are unpleasant—dirty diapers, wiping the rear-ends of the helpless, the stomach flu—but that the call of
duty grants no allowances for squeamishness.
But I draw the line at “poop soup” for my garden. To all of those champions of the muck, I
salute you. I know you will probably
want to tell me that it’s not so gross and my experiment was gross because I did something wrong. For now, however, I’ll listen to none of that
and move forward believing I’ve learned my limits. I will do everything I can
with my dry organic fertilizers. I will
use all the rabbit manure my trusty brood can generate (in its naturally dry
form), and I will supplement that with the great Putney Farms composted chicken
manure that I buy through Upstate Locally Grown.
For me, living an organic life is something that has
happened bit by bit. It started with
simply learning about the problems associated with high fructose corn syrup. Then it involved trying to avoid produce on
the constant “dirty dozen”
lists. It eventually turned into growing
as much of my own food as possible. I
think it’s the same with everyone, and it always involved figuring out what we
can do, what we can afford to do, what we cannot do, and what we do not want to do. I do not want to make, use, or be in the
presence of manure tea. In my learning
process, I can now say I’ve figured out how I feel about fertilizer and how I
will feed my plants.
