Adventures of Raghu - Nothing goes waste!

“There’s just so much to do for tomorrow’s puja that we’re having in the house! Raghu and Meera you both are busy learning to tie knots when I need your help in the house! Can you both please get here this minute!” cried out Raghu’s mother as she scurried to the kitchen to continue chopping the pumpkin. Raghu and Meera quickly left their ropes and came running to the kitchen. Meera was Raghu’s school friend and lived near his house. Raghu hardly spoke to girls, but Meera was different. She was fun, adventurous and was always up to exploring the outdoors with Raghu.

“Meera, can you please start piling up all the vegetable scraps in one place. Raghu, can you please go out and rake up all the dry leaves. Lunch is in the garden tomorrow afternoon and I need the garden to be clean” ordered Raghu’s mother to both the children.

“Aunty, should I help you cut the veggies?” asked Meera. “No dear, the veggies are over and I need to now go buy more vegetables from the market. It’s such a hassle really since it’s so far away!” called back Raghu’s mother as she grabbed the car keys and rushed off. Raghu’s house was on the outskirts of the main city and the vegetable market was almost 10 kms away.

Once the kitchen was clean, Meera walked out to the garden to be with Raghu. She sat on the bench as she watched Raghu gather a huge pile of dried leaves and grass on the side. Suddenly Meera called out - “Oh my god Raghu!” “What?” exclaimed Raghu. “I have a great idea!” said Meera. “Oh no, not more of your crazy ideas Meera. Last time you made me jump off the banyan tree into the lake and you know what happened after that!” laughed Raghu. “No Raghu. It’s different this time. Let’s make your mom a vegetable garden by first creating a compost pit! Just look at the piles of leaves and vegetable scraps, let’s put them to some use! It’ll be so much fun.”

Raghu stood silent for a moment. “I remember Mrs Vani, our science teacher talking about this, but I forget, what exactly is compost?” said Raghu. “Compost is the end product of decomposition of organic matter. It works like a fertilizer for plants. We can always look on the internet for instructions on how to get started to make compost and if we have any questions we’ll ask Mrs Vani at school.”

 ‘How to build a compost pit in your garden’ typed Meera on the computer. “Compost pits can be created by digging the soil in your garden. The hole needs to be anywhere between 4-8 feet. You can cover it with a board, and later when it’s ready you can plant vegetables on top of it.

It says the the microorganisms that decompose leaves and other plant parts need an even mix of green stuff such as kitchen veggie scraps, grass clippings and brown stuff such as dried leaves, sawdust and newspaper. They also need air and water to live and work. If you put all these together you get a compost! Yipeee!!!” said Meera. “I know just the perfect spot in the garden to make our vegetable garden.” called out Raghu as he ran outside to look for a spade.