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Health & Fitness

Slaves in Oakland

     Yes, slavery is alive and well in Oakland and I am an unashamed slave owner.
      Astounded at how much food I was throwing out in the form of vegetable peels, apple cores, carrot tops, etc., I decided to put that garbage to use. With no space for a compost pile, I took another path to solving the problem. First, big planter boxes. I wanted them tall so I wouldn't have to bend over so far when I weeded, harvested or worked the soil, so they're 3 feet square and almost that deep. I used redwood, with the bottom boards not quite touching and small rocks in the bottom, again not touching. This is for good drainage. Then soil, right out of the bag from the nursery, almost to the top of the box.      Once the soil is in place, the slaves can be put to work. A tip: when you start calling local nurseries and garden supply places about purchasing some, it's better to say you want earthworms, not slaves. While I didn't have much luck with local sources, ending up ordering on the internet and having them delivered to me, they can be found locally at times.
     When the box was delivered to my door, I took it to my garden immediately and opened it with a knife. Inside, in a moisture absorbent bag, were my little helpers squirming around, eager to be released from their prison I pushed a trowel into the earth, made a depression and shook about half of the little fellows in. Then I covered them with the finely chopped veggie scraps I'd been saving, and replaced some of the soil I'd displaced with the trowel. Everybody covered up, with a supply of food I expected to last for a week, I moved to the next planter. There, I repeated the process. And in the last planter, I did it again.
      Now I have three plantations, with a group of slaves to work each of them. Our deal is I feed them, they move around, keeping the soil from getting packed down, eat the scraps I bring, and leave their poop to fertilize the roots of the plants. With no facial expression to read and limited communication skills, it's impossible to do a study of their state of mind, but they always look like happy campers to me.
     That was last Spring. They have been working with no complaints and no compensation except food, for more than a year and my squash and tomatoes are flourishing while I harvest peas and carrots almost every day. I hardly ever use my garbage disposal any more. I'm getting what I want. They're getting what they want. I'd say the deal with my little slaves is a win-win situation.

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