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Scent of Light Episode

by Ken Norton

Transformation

Original Broadcast December 8, 2019,
repeat broadcast on November 22, 2020.

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The audio file above is the spoken word recording without background music provided to Radio KOWS 92.5 FM broadcast of the Scent of Light episode for insert into the Radio Spotlight Magazine with host Andre Marc.

Transcript

In this episode on the Scent of Light I will speak on Transformation.

I’m fortunate to live in a residence with a small backyard that supports a vegetable and flower garden. Prominent in the yard is the compost pile which is about 5 ft tall. Two weeks ago we had a freeze over the night and it transformed the perky red zinnia and orange sunflowers into drooping brown flowers. The green tomato vines turned a blackish green. The days became cloudier and wetter with rain. The fall season's triggers for transformation like falling temperature and decreased sunlight have set the change in motion in the garden, as well as in my response with garden recycling.

I pulled out the browning annual plants, cut them with a clipper into smaller pieces, and added them to the compost file. I added a solution of beneficial microbes to the pile to aid in breaking down the plant fibers with bacteria that is also considered beneficial for our human gut in digesting the fibers. Worms and other insects will make their way to the compost pile for a time of feasting. Even birds may find some pickings in the decaying flower buds packed with seeds.

The ritual of Halloween brings children attired in masks and costumes accompanied by their parents to our door asking, “Trick or Treat?” With the change towards winter that question prompts me to think of ways to make the year more a treat than trick. Moving those clippings to the compost pile is my way of encouraging the treat of rich soil by the spring transplanting for the garden.

The warmer months attract a lot of outside activity. As we approach Winter Solstice there is more a calling to introspective study. This may be our way of breaking down and understanding the experiences the last year has brought our way. Any difficult-to-digest part of an experience may require more microbic bites and chews to gain the rich soil of wisdom from it and create a basis for nurturing more growth this next year. What do we have to let go that are like the faded leaves and flowers of no more use to our true purpose as known at this time in our life? Perhaps there are items of use to someone else, even parts of items?

That compost pile in the garden transforms what was once leafy branches with flowers to a soil richer than the soil it once grew in. The top becomes the bottom and the bottom the top through this seasonal transformation. There is no end to this process as long as the variables of climate keep within the physical limits of sustaining life. It is a continuous cycle of transformation, changing forms with changing forms before our senses and mind. It informs us of relating to Nature from the very tiny perceivable with a microscope to the very large perceived with telescopes and satellites, from bacteria chomping on plant fibers to a moon circling our planet tugging on its waters and on further to a black hole at the center of our galaxy gravitationally tied to our Sun on its course through the Milky Way.

Our county provides a composting service for those not able to compost at their residence but able to place garden and kitchen waste in bins picked up at the curb. The same microbial and fungal digestion of the garden cuttings is taking place. The global glut on waste is forcing us as communities and nations to look at how humans relate to the ceaseless transformation brought by the seasons and by human consumer policies. By observing nature we can transform and walk in balance with her.

This is Ken Norton on the Scent Of Light. You can contact me via Ken at KennethENorton.com and I would be glad to hear from you. The Scent of Light episodes are archived on the web at kennethenorton.com. Thanks for listening.

About the Author and Producer

Ken Norton earned his master's degree in Materials Science from Stanford University as the Vietnam War was ending. During that time Ken served as the personal assistant to a poet/sociologist Dr. William Hermanns as he prepared his writings for publication, exposing Ken to not only the sciences but also the humanities and comparative religion for making conscious and conscionable choices.

Ken is a regular contributor to Radio Spotlight Magazine with his episodes on the Scent of Light.