Damn mulch

..is a bit ridiculous for the absurd little nature bandages one finds around commercial properties in parking lot wastelands.

The landscaping trade is in a race with siding peddlers and used car floggers in the Useless and Sleazy Practices Derby.

My favorite was selling the mark an 'irrigation system' while hoping they won't research the water bill outcome.

I had a compost pile that felt hot. An outdoor thermometer read above 150 degrees F. Fearing it would ignite I researched the question and learned that only large piles, in other words, larger than a backyard compost pile, would generate enough heat.

But why the bacteria in my little compost pile generate so much heat? A huge amount of coffee grinds from a nearby cafe. Unfortunately I think that the quantity of coffee needed to provide enough nitrogen to keep the bacteria happy also contributed too much acid making the compost too acidic.

But it was a fascinating discovery of the power of bacteria to generate heat. This gave me some inkling into biomass forms of energy production. But that would have to be a HUGE compost pile. On the other hand given the quantity of coffee consumption makes coffee food group of 1 perhaps if coffee grinds were collected throughout the city the between the nitrogen from the grinds and the composted food and brown sources we could create a small biomass power plant in the city.