HOW TO MAKE COW MANURE...WITHOUT A COW!

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by ROY DYCUS

Early in the spring of 1977 — while experimenting with various ways to generate methane gas from decaying organic matter — I made an interesting discovery: It's possible (and outrageously easy) to produce a very convincing facsimile of cow manure . . . without a cow.

WONDERFUL . . . BUT WHY?

Now I'm quite aware that this wonderful invention of mine will probably rank somewhere down around hoof-and-mouth disease and warble flies with the beef and dairy farmers out there in MOTHER's vast readership. (Most of the cattle raisers I know spend more time thinking about how to get rid of cow manure than they do dreaming up ways to create it artificially.)

Then again, for every one beef or dairy farmer of my acquaintance . . . I can probably name 15 or 20 urban or suburban gardeners. Each of whom (unless they've been brainwashed by slick salesmen into paying even higher prices for chemical plant foods) regularly shells out several dollars per bag for dried and ground cow flops . . . which, after all, are only about the best natural fertilizer that anyone can spread on a vegetable patch. (Get the picture? Cow manure — either real or ersatz — is a valuable commodity, and the price — like all prices — is going up every day.)

MAKE YER OWN . . . FOR LESS!

The price, that is, continues to escalate if you're still forced to buy your natural fertilizer "straight from the cow" . . . a situation that I intend to rectify right now. Because, as I've learned, it's easier and far less expensive to recycle leaves, grass, and other organic material into a cow-manure-like plant food right in your own back yard by my method . . . than it is to keep a real cow around to handle the same job for you.

HOW I DO IT

I stumbled onto my "secret", as I've mentioned, during a series of methane gas experiments. As you may know, this fuel (a close relative of natural gas) is produced when organic waste material of any kind—plant, animal, or human—is put into a sealed, airless (anaerobic) container—usually steel or concrete—and allowed to decompose. Although this process is understood reasonably well, there is still some controversy (at least among its grassroots practitioners) about just what organic waste materials—mixed together in just what proportions—will produce the optimum amounts of methane.