Your weekly addition on all things compost related!
This week we had a bountiful harvest of food scraps at our collection at Galvez Garden,in between Mandeville and Galvez Street, in St. Roch.
We collected two overfilled bins (with an extra bag of oranges) to be organically composted at our garden. Dylan immediately found the bag and went for further investigation. All were promptly placed in our quickly filling second bin.
It’s rather amazing how quickly the second bin is filling. We’ve been using collected plants, lost from the freeze, as our browns. As such, there has been little need to add cardboard or sawdust, as a carbon to our piles. The compost that is curing seems ready to be moved to another location to make room for a new compost pile. This is good news to accommodate the growing demand for composting organic material at our location. Our drop off site is being visited regularly.
Jesse’s been helping with adding the scraps to the pile because my rib is still fractured. Here’s what it looks like once he’s dumped just one full bin into our pile.
I take our broken shovel and mix everything to try to make it level. I try very hard to get things into the corners of our busted old bin… we have a full pumpkin that I observed only half way in the decomposition process… as in, only have of it was doing its thing… so I tried to add more nitrogen (in the form of loose leaves and coffee grounds) and carbon ( the remaining collection of leaves from when Jesse cleaned the storm drains) to that area to adjust the process.
Here is what it looks like after I added some collected materials from the garden. It’s somewhat sad, because all of these browns represent things we lost in the freeze. I remain optimistic because, all throughout New Orleans, front yards and gardens look a little sad right now. The freeze definitely took its toll. At least I’m composting the consequences to make for a fuller spring. So, even though our garden has seen better days, I’m chalking it up to changes of seasons and happy to share that even in the dead of winter: composting lives!
In other environmental and ART news, here’s a glimpse of my work in progress for an upcoming art show, based in sustainability and space. Check out the flyer for more info!
Best wishes to you all on a productive spring!
Thanks for helping us divert waste from our landfills!
With love, Lissie and the I Dig it Team
I dig it. 
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