The Compost Cure
a ritual & memory
Compost is my addiction…
I just can’t get enough.1
9,804 images to date.
Wondering how I’ll ever get my entire photo library to 10,000 photographs. If I keep all my compost images, I’ll have a budget for only 196 others…Humm. That’s not going to work.
The holiday cactus that blooms earlier and earlier each year.
Banana Peels, again and again.
There are 740 or so other November compost compositions to consider! And along the way, I keep showing with more.
Each bucket, a vote…for something greater than myself.
The ritual feeding me as much as it feeds the earth, a cure-all for sure.2
And one year, I even had a compost birthday cake.3
How cool is that?
Life is funny. You just never know.
With cheers and gratitude for you being you,
Lyn
PS: If you’re feeling the love, please share 13 Tons of Love with a friend and encourage them to subscribe.
PPS: Big Edit Update:
Down to 143,303 (from 147,249 last week). If you do the math, that looks like 3,946 images deleted, though since I’ve uploaded a few hundred, it’s actually more. But who’s counting?!
If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that the title of this newsletter, 13 Tons of Love, originated because over 13 years (between 2009 and 2022), I processed 13 tons of food waste from our household, neighbors and Umpleby’s Cafe and Bakery in Hanover, NH.
Why a cure? Because whenever I’m feeling bad about anything, compost perks me up. Whether it’s mucky or pretty, the is-ness of compost, the realness of it’s being, keeps me grounded in every way.
And now, during this editing process, I’m uncovering conversations between images that I hadn’t noticed before. Previously distinct stories are evolving into a larger narrative flow…which is what I’m hoping will happen during this Big Edit…patterns and stories will emerge that I hadn’t seen before. Stay tuned!
In November 2019 I had my first solo show of my Compost Compositions at AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, NH. The artist talk was on my birthday, November 1, so we had a party.
Many of the images in the show came from Umpleby’s compost, so the owner, Charles, made me a compost cake. It was a joy-filled moment…and a few months later, everything changed, except the compost.
Oh the joy and pain of editing, paring down, separating the wheat from the lovely chaff. It's like sorting through your children's baby pictures. Each is precious!
I absolutely love everything about that compost cake!