So far I've had two failed IMO3 attempts where the temperature got out of control. I winterized 3 large vegetable beds 2 weeks ago by broad forking them (they had never been tilled or worked up), spraying a humic acid+LAB solution, sprinkling the rejected IMO3 , and then covering them with leaves. I checked under the leaves the other day and was amazing by the mycelium activity. It seems that less than perfect IMO3 still does a lot of good! Happy experimenting everyone. (My oats sprouted in my IMO pile. Another learning opportunity)

Living in such a temperate climate I feel like I've always had a low LABS yield and a slower process. I just made a batch by my wood fire stove and it's the best yield yet by far! Maybe helpful for those of us going into winter. Looking forward to soaking the ground with it.

As my IMO3 (hopefully) gets going, I wanted to get an idea of what to do if we're having trouble getting temps up before accepting a bad IMO2 is to blame. Especially with temperatures dropping for most of us. When should we give it a stir? When to add more carb or carbon? Etc

Finally, but better late than never, I get to give a litte impression of our garden. I hope the audio on that cell phone vid is okay. Many greetings from the other side of the Atlantic where many are closely observing what is happening in the U.S. and how they are going to look like after four years under the current administration. I was lucky to be a teaching assistant for the small German Department at Whitman College in Walla Walla back in 2004/5. Filled with great experiences and encounters with lovely folks I returned to Germany hoping to return to the U.S. one day. Unfortunately my memories don't quite match up with what I see on the news these days. So yeah, as Taylor pointed out, gardening is not only a question of subsistence, resilience, self-reliance, health and climate protection but, at times, also a good distraction from the crude attempts of undermining democracies not just in the U.S. but in Germany as well.

Wanted to share some behind the scenes for an upcoming IMO video. Here are a few pictures—I’ll keep the post updated as the pile progresses.