October 2022

In October, we composted 1,899 lbs of food and paper waste, a little under one ton. October is also the month of our worm casting givebacks. Unfortunately, because the harvester situation is still not figured out I had to hand harvest over 30 gallons of worm castings. It was a workout, but my members are worth it! Though we are going into cold season, worm castings are still a great addition to winter bed routine or for use on indoor plants. 

Dan Katz, owner of Caps and Trade (look him up on Instagram for some beautiful plant and fungi pics), gave me a bucket of spent mushroom substrate to try feeding to my worms. From what he told me and the cursory research I did, myco-vermicompost produced should have higher levels of beneficial fungi, so we'll have to keep an eye on that and see what happens. 

I also was able to find a place for Montgomery members to drop off post market. Although it's not the most ideal, Gorman Heritage Farms agreed to host a drop off shelf. A drop off shelf was also added to upgrade our Granville drop off location. These shelves are intended to make compost drop off easy and organized. Members come with full buckets and place them in the shelf (filling from the bottom upwards, no need to heave buckets onto the top shelf) and then grab their empty buckets. This differs from most compost drop-off stations, where companies leave a larger compost can and people empty their buckets into it. I want to make the drop off station friendly to people who may not be able to clean their own buckets at home and who want to have their weights tracked. If you live near Gorman or Grailville, come check our shelves out!