Compost: A First Attempt, and The Apple Tree

Our neighbors across the street practiced organic gardening.  I had never heard of it.  I was about 15 and eager to learn.  I quickly subscribed to Robert Rodale's Organic Gardening and Farming Magazine, OGF, a digest-size publication that arrived bi-monthly.  

The neighbors took me to some stables where I took a generous quantity of the horse's offerings.  Big mistake:  I imported some very hardy weeds that took a lot of work and time to remove.  The neighbors also decided to change their garden and offered me their compost pile.  I dutifully trundled it home in a wheelbarrow, only to find that it did not work.  The odor was so noticeable that my father suggested I should stop.  We planted an apple tree where the compost was.  The tree lasted 31 years until the home was sold.  It is unusual for a tree to live that long in heavy clay.  I am sure that  the sand and nutrition contained in the compost were the primary reasons it thrived.  It would be many years before I would attempt a compost effort again.