The Great Pumpkin?

These worms travel in style!

Thanks to BiG!Compost for worm bins! A true sisterhood of traveling worms - from Leanne to Louise to Gina to me (via our brother in vermicomposting, Cuyler, and probably a few more men along the way too.)

October 19th: Worms & so much more!

Sunny Compost

OPEN HOUSE
Saturday October 19, 2013 *
10:00 – 1:00

 Barnett and 50th Street

• Meet your neighbors and fellow composters!
• Tour the composting site!
• Learn about composting options!
• See an actual worm bin!
• Enjoy baked goods and refreshments!
• Find new ways to get involved in your community and
• Receive a sample of finished compost (while supplies last)

All are welcome!

*If the weather doesn’t cooperate, we will reschedule.

Image source: http://www.theblackandwhite.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/icon2.jpg

Hot compost & coconuts!

Composting is never dull! Three coconuts were donated last week so we had some fun trying to chop them up. We also have a thermometer now and the pile is smokin'.  Over 120 degrees Fahrenheit! This is an ideal temperature as it's an indication that a bunch of microorganisms are at work in the pile. As we continue to add, the temperature should remain in that range. Once we stop adding to the pile, we'll see less heat as there is less work for the bugs and worms to do.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately....."

Reading Walden with 12th grade students and a talented co-teacher this past week, I started thinking about why I love composting so much. Today at the garden, as we chopped newly dropped-off food scraps and sifted finished compost, I noted the sensory overload all of this activity provides. Emptying the chopped up fruit and vegetable peels into the tumbler I am stunned by the array of colors - pinks, purples, greens, oranges, reds - pure art! Pouring the finished compost onto the sifter, I can hear the smaller pieces fall into the garbage can, raining down. Then poring over the bigger pieces, feeling the mango and avocado pits as I try to break them apart, seeing the random banana peel sticker or rubberband, it heightens my awareness of all that is living. This process, this cycle of renewal, all of our banana peels broken down and now rising up as black gold, brings such joy.

Hot compost pile

Was turning the compost pile today and tried to capture the steam/smoke/heat coming from the pile. We need a compost thermometer to see how hot it is.   

Compost Cat