Compost Happens!

Go Green with a Compost Bin

Composting turns household and backyard wastes into valuable
fertilizer and soil organic matter.

I have been composting for years. Although one common theme
is that everyone does it different, all organic matter eventually
decomposes. Compost Happens!

My homemade compost bin

Decomposing organisms consist of bacteria, fungi, and larger
organisms such as worms, sow bugs, nematodes, and numerous
others. Decomposing organisms need four key elements to thrive:
nitrogen, carbon, moisture, and oxygen.

Compost Happens

Compost has the ability to help regenerate poor soils.
Using compost can reduce the need for water, fertilizers, and
pesticides. A compost pile meets the three Rs of Green Living,
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

"The Poetry of Compost" (from "ECOLOGIST")

Compost, in essence, is very simple:

Dead plant matter rots.
Pile enough of it up together,
mix it up so that air infiltrates the heap,
and the bacteria feeding on it
and making it rot will produce nitrogen and other goodies
that the soil– and your veg – needs to grow healthily.

Your task then is simple:

Chuck enough waste matter of the right kind on your compost heap.
Turn it regularly then leave it for a while –
from a couple of months to a year,
depending on how much of it there is
and what the conditions are.
Then mix the remaining goo into your soil.

I say ‘goo’,
but what you should end up with, according to the books,
is a dark-brown, crumbly substance
that looks a bit like soil and smells ‘sweet’.

Above all, it’s about enjoying yourself.



Yeh Tze

"Yesterday"

"Yesterday"






















NTUMC Campus

NTUMC1968 Class Album Editorial Note by 蘇文博 (Class President)


Yeh Tze

Living A Dual Existence

Sounds of Yosemite Rivers

"Living a dual existence"

In his notable essay “Once More to the Lake" (August 1941),
Elwyn Brooks White (American writer 1899-1985) described a
“creepy” sensation when he returned with his son to the lake in
Maine, where his father used to rent a camp and took him there for
the month of August along about 1904.

“When I got back there, with my boy, and we settled into a camp
near a farmhouse and into the summertime I had known, ………….
lying in bed the first morning, smelling the bedroom and hearing
the boy sneak quietly out and go off along the shore in boat. I
began to sustain the illusion that he was I, and therefore, by simple
transposition, that I was my father. …………. I seemed to be living
a dual existence. I would be in the middle of simple act, I would be
picking up a bait box or laying down a table fork, or I would be
saying something, and suddenly it would be not I but my father
who was saying the words or making the gesture………............. .”

A couple of weeks ago, I shared the same experience as Elwyn White
did while we were visiting Yosemite Valley.

When our children were young, we used to take them to Yosemite
Valley, and this time, we revisited our favorite sites with our
children and grandchildren, and we all had a wonderful time.



While watching our grandsons crawling on the rocks, touching the
water and chasing the small creatures by the creek, closely and
carefully monitored by their parents, the same image of our children
many years ago instantly came to my mind. I even inadvertently
called my son’s name while trying to advice my grandson to be
careful by the water.

At that moment, I seemed to be living a dual existence.


Yeh Tze

"And now, ...the rest of the story"

And now, ...the rest of the story.

I used to listen to Paul Harvey on the radio while I was driving many
years ago, and loved his "The Rest of the Story" segments.

He was the most listened-to radio personality in America.
"The Rest of the Story" revealed true anecdotes about famous people
or historic incidents, always with a unique twist at the end:
"And now you know… the rest of the story."

黃富源醫師 is one of my NTUMC1968 classmates. After we graduated
from NTUMC and served mandatory military service for one year, we
were still able to be together for the next three years at NTU Hospital,
although we were in different specialty trainings.

In the year 1972, he made a wise move and took a job at 馬偕醫院,
while I left for the US. We have not been in touch often since.

His lovely wife, Lucy, is a dedicated and devoted Christian, teacher
and writer. In her “鹿溪的部落格”, she "書寫她走過人生四季的感人小品"
and "傳遞生活中的真善美". She has also posted many sweet, heart
touching stories about her husband, Dr. Huang. She "分享超越一甲子的
人生感動".

After reading some of the articles, including "馬偕小兒科與我", "老同學",
"紅寶石婚", in her Blog, I was reminded by Paul Harvey of:

"And now you ( I ) know… the rest of the story."

Yeh Tze

Yosemite, Temple of Nature

Yosemite, Temple of Nature

John Muir was a man who loved the outdoors. He was a naturalist,
conservationist, author and protector of all nature.


Roosevelt and Muir, 1903 historic photo

He helped save Yosemite Valley and Sequoia National Park.
When he came to Yosemite, he climbed the mountains, forged trails
and discovered this place that he called “God’s natural cathedral”.

He said:

“No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite…..
the grandest of all special temples of Nature.”

He encouraged people:

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will
flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow own
freshness into you, and the storms their energy, where cares will drop
off like autumn leaves.”

He reminded us:

“In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.”




We have visited Yosemite Valley many times in different seasons.
On the first day of July, we had another great trip back to the Valley,
and this time we were with our children and grandchildren. We stayed
overnight in a house at Yosemite West, which was surrounded by
magnificent groves of pine trees.

Although we felt "枕中雲氣千峰近”, we did not have the opportunity
to experience “床底松聲萬壑哀", or "濃濤喧大壑", due to lack of “風”
in the trees. We however enjoyed the incredible view of “萬松青一色”
from the deck, and the true meaning of "高松出眾木, 伴我向天涯 ".

Our two grandsons, aged 2 and 5 respectively, knocked on our door
and came to our room before dawn. We went out and walked together
holding hands under those stately pine trees in the cool misty
morning. It was quite a refreshing and memorable experience.

Yeh Tze