Gradually settling a space colony

Somehow I don't think we'll see nearly all the people moving into a
space colony all at once.

It is going to take time to build up a space colony, especially if we
want to use mainly space resources.

Heinlein's Farmer in the Sky dealt with terraforming a moon.

He makes the point that it will take time to convert powdered rock to
topsoil. We may see families graually expanding out areas of topsoil.

By the time that people move into small towns, the rest of the colony
may be covered with farms. Though the farms main job may be supplying
plenty of oxygen.

Plain ordinary organic garbage may be worth its weight in gold. I
remember reading of how in the early days of colonizing Australia, cow
manure didn't break down. Pats began coating the ground.

Turned out that the ships bringing the cattle had kept the decks
washed. Thus getting rid of the bacteria that broke down the cow
manure.

So the day was saved by bringing a load of cattle without cleaning
out the manure. Being a farm boy and having loaded many a manure
speader with a five tined manure pitchfork, I can imagine how that
ship smelled crossing the Equator with the temperature above 100
degrees.

(Incidentally, I found chicken manure the worst to load. The ammonia
concentration indoors was such that I had to step outside the coop
every 15 minutes. My eyes got to watering so bad, I couldn't see.)

Someday we may see a spaceship with a load of well-rotted manure
heading out to a space colony. Today big farms find manure disposal a
problem. They might supply plenty of organic material to space
colonies and even pay for the privilege.

At any rate, we will probably need garbage rich in all sorts of
bacteria. We probably don't know all the bacteria that is necessary,
so it would be best to use a shotgun approach.

Rick