A lost friend, or just nutrients for my plants?

We lost a good friend the other day. My fish, Oscar, finally keeled over and died after swimming around in my aquarium for almost 5 years. I’m not sure if you can tell in the picture, but this fish was a HOG by the time he kicked the bucket. He ate goldfish (and many of my other aquarium fish) en route to growing to be at least 2 lbs by the time he finally died.

It was a sad experience taking him out of the tank, especially because there was 2 or 3 times where I thought he was dead, and went in to pull him out, only to have him start swimming for a day or two, almost like he was trying to prove that he wasn’t dead yet.

Once he was dead, I decided that the best way to honor ol’ Oscar was to plant him in the ‘garden’ as a way to help nurture the soil, and plants that I plan on growing over the winter. So, I dug a grave, and shoveled him in there. I added a couple of scoops of compost on top of him (filled with earthworms, in order to help with the de-composing…) and then patted dirt over the hole of his grave.

Now, I know this is disgusting. Trust me, I know. But now that I consider myself a full-fledged farmer, I can look at the circle of life as a complete circle, from fish to farm; and I don’t really have any problem eating some nice romaine lettuce, or sugar snap peas that will be growing over the grave of a lost friend.