For those of you who haven’t heard, we’re going to have a Compost Gathering this Saturday, August 8th at 3pm! Come down to the farm and learn the basics of composting.
In many ways, compost is our future. As Ian Sample of the Guardian argues, worldwide up to 40% of agricultural land is seriously degraded. Many practices contribute to this degradation–poor farming practices, deforestation, overgrazing, etc. These practices can be put to an end and remedied, however, and much of the wisdom and knowledge required to do so is out there. Although there are many different elements to a renewed sense of responsibility and sustainability in regards to the farm or garden, we will only be focusing on one this Saturday: Compost.
By breaking down organic material into humus (an integral component of soil fertility), a compost bin is a key component to any organic farming or gardening project. By having a compost bin, you redirect a stream of your household waste into an incredibly productive mix that adds to the fertility and health of the soil you grow your plants in. The Compost Council of Canada estimates that about 50% of the total waste stream could be composted, but on Saturday we will only be redirecting a small stream: your household brown waste and veggie waste. As a reminder, see below for a description of what to bring if you have it:
1.) Collect some “brown waste” in the form of dry leaves, chaff, straw, sawdust, bags of shredded newspaper (yes its true! biodegradable and almost always non-toxic), well-mulched wood, and so on. Brown waste is usually quite high in carbon and essentially is the main food supply for the bacteria that will thrive in the heap. A brown waste is typically quite fluffy, dry, stiff. The more carbon you return to the soil, the more you will be building humus, and this is exactly what our soil needs more of.
2.) Collect some “green waste” or veggie waste in a bucket from your kitchen over the next week. This can include such things as all your veggie trimmings (peels, stalks, gross leaves, etc.), any old coffee grounds, egg shells, and so on–try not to add too many cooked veggies. Do not put meat or grease in your bucket. A five gallon bucket with a tightly securing lid works well and you can cut down on the smell and goo at the bottom of the bucket by sprinkling peat moss (aka sphagnum moss) or sawdust at the bottom before you start to fill it.
3.) If you happen to be camping this weekend, or have a fire pit in your backyard, bring a little bit of wood ash and charcoal (we will use this sparingly).
We’re also planning to make this day kid friendly too, so if you got ‘em, bring ‘em. We’ll set up a table where they can paint five gallon buckets that will be distributed to restaurants around town. These buckets will be our Acadia Community Farm “compost satellites.” Also, composting in general is quite kid friendly because its basically like cooking a big cake.
As a primer, here are a few webpages to check out before we meet:
http://www.cog.ca/documents/Compost.pdf
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/composting/compost_pf.php
http://www.journeytoforever.org/compost_make.html
http://www.compost.org/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/aug/31/climatechange.food
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