SOMETIMES the new, more complicated ways just don’t work as well as the old, simple ways.
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That seems to be the lesson from Parade’s experience with the sparkling new compost bin he received for Christmas last year.
Frustrated with the compost pile in the backyard (which was unsightly and attracted bugs and insects, but did produce rich, nutritious soil in its middle), Parade’s significant other presented the bin to Parade on the morning of December 25 with a smile and a promise that it would work better than any smelly old heap.
Parade was sceptical, but willing to give it a go.
In the months since, he has diligently added his vegetable peelings, fallen leaves, small pruning offcuts and dead flowers to the compost bin. He has rotated it regularly, as per the instructions, and has occasionally added a bit of newspaper if he thinks the balance between green and brown isn’t quite right.
And so far, the bin has produced … not a skerrick of soil. Not a thimble-full. All that it’s given Parade is a sense of frustration whenever he goes digging around in it looking for something to show for all his work.
Walking back from the bin to the house, Parade has found himself sometimes looking longingly at the small mound that used to be his ugly old compost pile.
It wasn’t pretty, Parade will admit that, but it worked – and isn’t that enough?
Sixty years since the door opened
PARADE received a call this week from Betty Thompson, who said an important anniversary was approaching for herself and the Eglinton community.
Betty said it will be 60 years on April 26 since she and her husband Tom opened the Eglinton Store to service the Macquarie River village.
Betty said her husband constructed the building and she ran the shop back in those early days when they were the first owners.
Eglinton was once a sleepy little community, but is a hotspot of building activity these days as new land is opened up for housing.
Parade is old enough to remember when the bridge across the Macquarie to Eglinton was one-lane.