GARDENS FROM GARBAGE - Latest Blog Entries

Composting Success!

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:48:00 -0700

Composting Success!

Anina Estrem is a Communities in Action VISTA serving as a FoodCorps member in Forsyth, MT.

As Rosebud students start to file into the cafeteria, I grab a tray and join the faculty for lunch. As we eat, I talk with one of the science teachers about developing a science fair project for the 5^thgraders using compost. Many of the younger students don’t know exactly what composting is, so this project would be a perfect opportunity to educate the student body. We discuss experimenting whether plants--maybe beans or peas--grow better in compost or in commercial potting soil. This fits perfectly into my aspiration of using compost to start a school vegetable garden.

Every Monday and Friday, I carry the bucket we use to collect compost scraps to the cafeteria and set it up next to the garbage can. Although by now students are familiar with the process, they still occasionally dump their trays into the wrong bin, so I tape signs to each bucket stating which one is compost and which one is garbage. On the wall behind me I put up my compost poster, brand-new by request of the kindergarteners who insisted that my old sign was too boring. I hope to impress them with my use of glitter paint and colorful illustrations of compostable foods.

Once the older students start to finish their lunches, they bring their trays up to the compost bin where I stand offering guidance and enthusiasm as they toss their lunches into the correct bins. These students hardly need my input, as composting has become a routine part of the meal. For the elementary students, however, composting has not yet lost its fascination.

As they file in, I hear whispers of “compost day!” “look at the new sign,” and “she’s back again?” as they admire the new poster. The kindergarteners and first graders eat their lunches at the table directly in front of me, and throughout the meal I’m barraged with questions about what food can go in the compost, what will be done with the compost, and to read what my signs say. At the end of lunch they are meticulous about cleaning off their trays, precariously balancing them with one hand as they ensure every piece of carrot, each breadcrumb and scrape of applesauce goes into the compost bin. Once they finish eating, several of my ‘composting stars’ enthusiastically volunteer to help me supervise their peers as they dispose of their lunch scraps.

Behind Rosebud School sit two huge, beautiful compost bins, one of which is slowly filling up with cafeteria lunch scraps. Made from pallets and straw and wrapped in plastic, Rosebud students built these bins in November in a composting workshop with Mike Dalton, founder of Gardens from Garbage in Great Falls. Mike taught us how our leftover food will eventually transform into a rich garden fertilizer and then led the 7^th-12^thgraders in a fun afternoon constructing these bins. Twice a week since then I have helped students collect their compost at lunchtimes.

Anina Estrem and Mike Dalton

By the end of lunch, I collect anywhere from a pound to thirty pounds of food waste from Rosebud’s 80 students, depending on the meal. Today was pizza day, which produced little waste, so I easily carry the bucket out to our compost bin and dump the food in with a handful of Bokashi and some straw.

Instead of traditional hot composting, Rosebud School has adopted the Bokashi method, a cold, low maintenance technique that requires adding a handful of Bokashi to the compost, which is a mix of EM-1 microbes and wheat bran. Bokashi helps turn food waste into nutritious compost in several months instead of the year that hot composting requires and needs no turning or other maintenance.

Although composting is not a direct aspect of FoodCorps’ mission, it has proved to be an essential tool for change in Rosebud. When gardening was first met with a lukewarm response, I had to look for other ways to engage students with their food. Composting has done just that by encouraging them to consider what is left on their plate every day. Students were astonished and excited to learn that they could recycle their food, and slowly we are transforming this enthusiasm for making compost into an interest in using it. In a region with limited access to fresh food and a short growing season, the idea of starting a school garden does not come naturally. By acting as a stepping stone between where school lunches come from and where they can end up, composting is helping to make a garden more and more feasible. I’m excited to see that a solid foundation of compost may be just what it takes for Rosebud to grow both a healthy garden and student engagement with their food

Say Good-bye to the Food Pyramid

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:39:00 -0600

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Interesting article from www.foodrenegade.com on what we should/should not be eating. Personally, I agree with these suggestions, but I'm sure my vegan and vegetarian friends would highly disagree. Check out the linked article and let us know where you stand.......

Taking Home Some Wigglers

Fri, 20 May 2011 11:20:00 -0600

Our second group of home-schoolers brought to our back yard "operation" by Lisa! Great group, interested in the finer points of bokashi composting, and especially the red wigglers that found their way into little baggies for the kids to take home and nurture. It's always an exciting day when parents and kids together get excited about being more in touch with the earth and all of it's friends....

Drinking from the Bird Bath

Tue, 03 May 2011 11:17:00 -0600

Tuesday morning's activities in the back yard were a Home School composting tour and teach-in. Lisa Lotte Hardiman brought adults and youth (all ages) to learn about bokashi cold composting. Mike did the explanation about how bokashi composting works and MJ did the added attraction of spreading the "worm family" out on the picnic table so that everyone who wanted to could see and pet the worms. There were a few EWWWW!'s in the crowd, but after we all washed our hands with dirt, it was OK to dig around in the coconut coir and find the worms, being very careful not to upset their natural aversion to light.

We gave them all the option of taking home a few worms or a small bag of compost --- most deciding on worms unless the parents there did the quick shaking of the head that signified "thanks, but NO thanks". We're careful not to insist that worms go home with a 5 yr. old.

As we were talking about the finer points of composting with a couple of the adults, out of the corner of our eyes, we see 3 of the boys drinking handfuls of water............hmmmmm, where could they have gotten water?? Thank goodness, I had just scrubbed the bird bath yesterday after all winter and filled it with fresh water, because there they were - dipping their hands in the water and drinking! Mom's weren't too upset, telling us the kids had "strong immune systems". We do know how good dirt is for us, but I hadn't investigated bird bath water - I guess we'll wait and see if we hear back from them. Hopefully, like playing in the dirt makes us stronger, so does drinking bird bath water!

Enjoy the pictures - we so love having kids get excited about composting and worms......

Here's a link to a powerpoint called Seeds of Greatness: Dirt Enhanced Learning

FRESH! Food Forum fantastic!

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 07:33:00 -0600

WOW! What a fantastic FRESH! Food Forum we had a week ago. We started out with 5 essays presented by students from both Whittier and West Elementary, who wrote about their feels on composting and gardening. Really set the tone for the day - it's with our kids that our future lies, and the ideas and feeling they presented were solid and passionate. They were followed by the movie, Fresh, which is so well done.

Our panelists, Traci Hronek (Pea Pods Neighborhood Garden), Gayle Gifford (Great Falls Community Food Bank), Jona McNamee (MSU Extension Office), Dylan Pederson (2 J's Fresh Market), and Eric Bergman (Groundworks Fram) gave us all great information and the breakouts that followed started us solidly on our path to further work in the area - both in Community Gardens and in connecting growers with buyers. Farm to School is our ultimate goal - getting the kids fed fresh good food.

Scheduled another showing of Fresh at the Great Falls Public Library on Thursday, April 21st - hope to have some new folks there and some seeing it for the 2nd time. It takes a while to change thought forms, so the more information we can get out, the better. One day soon, we'll hit the tipping point and none of us will have to work at it anymore - feeding our kids good food will be automatic. We wait for the day.......

BORN conference and 1000 new gardens

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:43:00 -0600

Mike and I had an incredible time at the BORN/Bioneers Conference Sunday in Bozeman. We attended the 1000 New Gardens Bozeman Seedluck Friday and were so impressed by the exuberant energy of the young people who are involved and moving forward there. Bozeman continues to inspire us, as did the Bioneers conference in 2009! Great plenary speakers - and this year we were speakers also - about activism in Great Falls and composting. Many folks are interesed in what we are doing, which was even more inspiring for us. Good time spreading the good news about cold composting.

We met with the Co-op, the Food Bank, and representatives from MSU on Monday and are even more excited about what might get started when the organizations get together and start to experiement on their own. We're certainly all of the same mind, and looking for ways to grow food, get our hands and our kids in the dirt, and have a sustainable food source right where we live. Thanks, Bozeman, for hosting us, and for all of your interest in what we have to offer.

March and it's still snowing...

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:41:00 -0600

Well, it's March and it's still snowing, and we are still working on the website and perfecting it so that it's easy for you to use. We did have spring last week - hopefully that's not the end of it!
We're working hard these days toward our FRESH! Food Forum, which will bring together growers and buyers, gardeners, gardner-wanna-be's and everyone interested in bringing a sustainable local Fresh food source to Great Falls. It's the beginning of a concerted effort to get a Farm-to-School program underway. Always takes longer than we think it will, or should, but that's OK, too. We're on the way!
Starting a membership program - please sign up as a member to support what we're doing in the community and we welcome you as a volunteer. Many times we need to have folks to call on, and it will be nice to have a list of people who can help out now and then.
Until next time.......and hopefully it won't still be snowing.

Think Big!

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:06:00 -0700

It's a new year and time to elevate our energy to meet what 2011 brings to us! We have such big visions here at Sunburst, and it seems that they keep getting bigger and bigger as we see what more can be done to enhance our neighborhoods and schools. We dream of orchards and gardens and year-round greenhouses and our school kids getting fed from the school gardens, and, and, and...... There is great power in big, wildly, exciting visions - and we're very excited about what the next 3 years will bring. Creating change takes all of us, so hop aboard - it'll be a fun ride! Believe me, there's something for everyone to do.

Building a website

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 08:18:00 -0700

Building and editing a website can become an obsessive past time! Every time I think I'm finished, I get another idea to add or something to improve or change. I'm sure that will go on for a while, and maybe never end. It certainly serves to organize my energy and thoughts around who we are and what we want to accomplish in our community and state.

Please send suggestions as you see that you can't get from one place on the website to another, and I'll fix it as best I can. With any pre-programmed website builder, there are limitations, but links can always be established to make it easier to move around. So thanks for your input and comments this is a great activity on a snowy day!

How To Use Our Blog

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 06:50:00 -0700

The blog can be used in a number of ways. Gardeners, you might use it to post updates for volunteers and participants about needs and timing. Families, you might use it to keep your friends up to date. The possibilities are endless.

Don't forget to add Tags to your entries. For example, if you're writing about starting a new community or neighborhood garden, you might use tags that identify your project such as, "Pea Pods, River City Harvest, Valley View". As you post entries with similar tags, they can be linked together. This way visitors for the site can easily see all entries that are tagged by you.