Today we learned...

The rain was falling in small drops today but we braved it anyway and planned routes through the city of Columbia, SC.  It is a very easily maneuvered city that has two distinct food districts in Five Points and The Vista.

Our first pile is being started in Forest Acres, though.  The issue is now and for

the forseeable future convenience.  We had to find just the right place and in so doing we had to ask all of the questions that we know others would.

Location and looks...
We found a spot out of the way that would still be central to all that we are trying to do; collect compost in a convenient way that does not add to the "carbon footprint".  Also, because we really don't receive any real funding, no contributions, and rare donations, we had to look at ways to do this that saved gas money!  Without any real funding, creativity is king and labor becomes a major component so we looked for places that were near where we were going to do so that containers can be carried to the site.  Holding to our promise this means that over 100 tons of matter are going to be carried by hand!

Containerization. 
We had to think about what we were going to do and most of all how to make it convenient for our "customers and contributors".  Convenie
nce is one of the biggest drawbacks for a lot of people.  Finding containers can be somewhat of a hassle for many.  We sought to kill two birds with one stone and part of that was finding consistent, measurable containers that people could use to store compost.
Where did we get them? Well, there are a number of places throwing away four and five gallon buckets daily.   So, we have started to gather them.  They are often large, food grade buckets, that once contained mayonnaise or something of the sort.
These are buckets that otherwise would have gone into a landfill also.  Instead, we saved them and now they are put to use again.

Smell...
If your compost pile smells bad then you are doing something wrong.  This is going to be the largest thing that we have to battle, not the actual smell, but the perception that something is going to smell bad.  That is why we are happy that we have gotten one of our biggest contributors on board, Starbucks.

Coffee grounds are are high in carbon, nitrogen, and cover the smell of just about anything, especially as it is heated through the pile.

Speaking of heat...

Speaking of heat...
If you get a compost pile big enough, it will begin to heat up on its own.  Micro organisms will chew and spit out matter and begin to bump into each other, all causing the pile to get very hot purely out of friction.  When the pile reaches between 120 and 140 degrees, it will begin to kill off weed seeds and dangerous pathogens. The coffee grounds help to add to that heat and "cook" the compost more quickly.  People have been known to run hoses through their compost piles and use them to heat water.

We got a lot of great information and we look forward to passing on a lot more information, starting more sites, and figuring more things out as we go.

Nearly a thousand pounds in two days...We're ok with that.

The Letter We Get Every Year

We have gotten the same or a similar letter for the past five years.  It will start around April or May and then they come in rapidly right after all the way until about the end of August.  The first time I got the letter, I sprang into action.  The second time, I was a little frustrated.  The third time, more so, and the fourth and fifth and sixth, etc. I was just downright annoyed.

They tend to start innocently and even honorably enough and go something like this:
   "Hi, We are trying to raise money to build a garden/ community garden/ school garden etc. and we need your help to buy x y and/or z"

Mainly they are looking for money for lumber to build raised beds...understandable.

Or they are looking for money for tools... There are other solutions there, but ok.

Or, (and this is the one that really annoys me) they are looking for money to buy compost or fertilizer.

The reason this annoys me the most is because the time to start thinking about this is right now.  Not the first warm days after a long winter, but right now as the leaves are setting up to fall and there is very little else that can be planted.

A good time to get into these things is right now.  The BEST time to get into these things is right now.  We need to get away from the idea that gardening and growing start when the sun is warm and getting high in the sky and when the world is   We need to realize that a lot of preparation needs to and can go into the creation of a great garden and especially if it is in a school.  The lesson of a garden is in what it means over the long term.  The lesson is in what it means when it is not so pretty outside.

The lesson is to go and find a shady place and gather as much and as many leaves as possible.  Combine that with as many food scraps as you can find and get to work.  Engage in finding other sources of compostable materials.  The idea is to get ready for the spring...right now.  Get ready and stay ready.

A year from now, you'll wish you had started today.

The Work

Commitment...The better place
Healthy soil is the foundation of a good farm. It is a little bit cooler outside but as the grass starts to turn brown and the leaves change color, we are starting to think about what we are going to do over the winter.  We are taking into account what we can do next spring.  Even as the brown begins to take over, we are thinking about the green.

So now that we are here we are ready to get to work.  Theresa has been hard at work talking to local businesses about basically, what they throw out. Wasted food accounts for approximately 95 percent of landfill that is bad.  What is good is that waste can actually be collected and used for compost.  It gives us something to do over the winter, starting a massive compost pile.

"A good farm can be productive all year long and even when it looks like the fields are covered in snow, there are things hard at work to bring life the following year."

local coffee brewer cleaning out the roaster.

Every day or every other day in some cases, we are going to visit businesses to

5gallon buckets containing tea bags, lettuce, etc.

compost pile reaching 130-140 degrees.

Biodegradable cups breaking down over time.

collect their compostable stuff and use it for a type of fertilizer in our farm next year.  Our reach goes as far as Columbia where we are gathering from many different restaurants and coffee shops to divert garbage from the trash stream.  As cooks cut heads of lettuce, tomatoes, we gather it.  As that local coffee place brews your morning latte we get it.

We estimate that, done correctly, we can save over 100 tons of compostable material from the entire state of South Carolina. 

That is 100 tons of material that does NOT go into landfills.

After evaporation and breakdown, that is about 40 tons of compost and wait til you see what we are going to do with that.

20 percent is going to local community gardens.

A portion will be sold to go local landscapers, gardeners, etc.

A large portion will go into the ground at the farm. 

The foundation of the farm is the soil and so far we are off to a good start.

Hurry Up and Wait!

We are trying to stay busy here.  All the permits are applied for the planning is done, and people are at the ready.  It is a lot of "hurry up and wait".  When we got into this, we knew there was going to be a lot of down time, and we expected the winters to be mild so that we could brave the cold in the morning and get some things done.  The paperwork is the hardest part.  Standing there, staring at land waiting to be built upon...