"Death and resurrection" (Rev. Tom Carr, The Big Context), Death and Resurrection is all around us.

Compost, though, gives me hope.

Antoine de Saint Exupery: In anything at all, perfection is finally attained, not when there is no longer anything left to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away.

This is how I feel about compost. At first, we add, and add, and add, all kinds of waste plant material and food scraps - vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, eggshells, weeds, you name it, - until a lovely big pile of stuff is created, and, by the way, a little soil or animal manure wouldn't hurt to add microbes and nitrogen to the pile. But, there comes a point when there's enough stuff added and now it is time to let it be. And, what happens in this phase? Well, simple, the taking away begins. Taking away of the physical nature of the matter - eaten by earthworms the matter becomes wormcastings. Digested by bacteria and other microbes, the matter becomes something other than it was before. No longer recognisable as carrot scrapings or potato peels, weeds, grass clippings, old tea bags, etc., the matter is now developing into a uniform brown approaching black fine textured granular material. Like soil, but not quite. Richer, with a fine tilth and pleasing aroma. Certainly not putrid like rotting vegetables. A healthy smell that one wants to sniff and go "Ahhh". Gone are the recognisable physical attributes of specific species. It has all been taken away by the natural decay and decomposing microbes which have performed a miracle. They've taken death, removed everything unnecessary and produced black gold, much more valuable than the fossil fuel variety.