The pile is turned early and often for uniformity and to avoid malodorous fermentation. In aerated piles, good organisms dominate and smelly ones die. The heated pile also becomes inhospitable for Salmonella, E. coli and other manure pathogens.

The recent infestations of spinach, onions, peanut butter or hamburger do not arise from organic farms where good compost is used, but rather from factory farms with filthy runoff problems that use sewer sludge or synthetic chemicals as fertilizer.

Good compost promotes food quality. In a well-made compost pile, good bacteria defeat the bad ones, just like it should be. An abundance of friendly microbes defines the quality of finished compost, and the power of those microbes depends on their mineral content.

Compost is not just the key to sustainable agriculture, but also God's will. It is the renewal of things, and the only tangible form of reincarnation. It is life's resolve and death's acceptance.

What transpires in a compost pile is as awesome as in any religion, and its miracles are accessible. The God in the compost pile is worth dirtying one's fingernails for. The fruit of its faith is in the fertility of the land, the salubrity and appeal of its produce, and ultimately in the balance of things.

Eating fresh, hardy, local organic produce is spiritually gratifying, like returning to Eden. Understanding the wisdom of nature and respecting its mystery, through compost, brings us closer to the Oneness: Nature's unifying principle.

Organic and mineral elements are driven to assemble and dissolve, each particle carrying a quantum of soul with it. Like the atom that carries it, this soul cannot be destroyed; disassembled, yes, but not destroyed. Soul is compounded in ever more complex life forms.