(Z)oo Doo .. How Your Garden Grows

I know, I know. I just wrote a blog about poop. And I would spare you another poop blog so soon, but then you'd be missing out on amazing FREE compost for your garden ... and a few new insights on poop.

First things first: I used the word FREE. The Oregon Zoo is offering free, unlimited manure compost - Zoo Doo - on a first-come, first-scooped basis in February and March (dates below). Any good gardener knows that a beautiful, healthy garden is grown in good soil ... and good soil can be grown with the best natural, organic fertilizer there is ... POOP. Natural fertilizers promote good things: the growth of beneficial bacteria, earthworms, and fungi that build soil structure and foster healthy plants. (Non-natural fertilizers are nasty. Follow this buying guide.)

Ah, the circle of life. Delicious.
Photos: The Oregon Zoo

Besides the zoo, do you know where else you can get free poop? Life. Life is full of figurative poop, and we often try to wish our way out of it. Instead of digging in and embracing what can come of it, we get stuck frantically trying to dig ourselves out. So there we are, standing in a hole, shoveling poop out into tiny hills all around us, and then you know what happens? Yes, you know. S**t rolls downhill. Right back onto you.

But if it's true that a garden's health and beauty can come from poop, then could this not be true of our own mental health and inner beauty?

Live long and prosper, little plant!

Photo: Oldproof/Shutterstock

I'm talking about natural, organic Life Poop. The stuff that happens because, well, that's life. People we love die. We get sick. Someone else gets the promotion at work. I'm not talking about nasty, non-natural Life Poop - the stuff that happens because we create or perpetuate it. Drama. Unhealthy relationships. Bad choices.

Natural, organic Life Poop - that is, adversity - can promote good things: Character. Compassion. Purpose. It's all in how we view it, and what we "doo" with it.

Every nose should stop and smell the flowers.

Anyway, here's the inside scoop for local gardeners as promised:

Over six Saturdays in February and March (February 7, 21 and 28 and March 7, 14 and 21) from 7 to 10 am, Zoo Doo will be available at the zoo composting facility. Head just inside Gate A, located a couple hundred feet up the hill after exiting Highway 26. Tractor assistance from zoo staff is available for larger loads, and a U-load space will be available for smaller amounts (bring a container).

The Zoo Doo that will be available contains a fair amount of wood chips used for animal bedding, so it works best as a decorative top mulch. It's a great selection over bark dust, because it provides more nutrients. To learn more about Zoo Doo, follow this link (but disregard the dates listed there - they are old, but the information is still interesting).

See you at the zoo!