CIRCLE OF LIFE
FOOD/COMPOST/GARDEN making more food.
Food comes into my kitchen, kitchen trimmings and yard waste from four properties fill 7 compost bins of first stage composting (approx 55 gallon size containers). I then use another 7 bins that have second stage compost with food gardens growing on top of the aging compost. I covered the bins with old fabric and painted them to match the decorative brick that faces my neighbor's yard. The painted fabric additionally conserves moisture. I was honored to serve as the volunteer desert composter representative for two years for a Cal Poly Civil and Environmental Engineering department project to determine produce label compostability. I have 4 chickens that eat food waste, and give me eggs to eat, manure, and feathers for the compost process.
LOW WATER, LOW LABOR COMPOSTING GOALS
I want to present a Low Water, Low Labor, Composting in the Desert workshop for every community garden and gardening group in Tucson and encourage more sustainable COMPOSTING TECHNIQUES. I'm passionate about conserving water and diverting good yard and kitchen waste into good earth and soil building materials rather than methane generating land fill. Imagine NO yard or kitchen materials in the land fill and you make your own soil with minimal water. Tucson can be full of locally produced top soil with a vegetable garden in every yard. Click here for composting presentation