Saving the Planet One Bucket at a Time
Join the GCG Compost Country Team
“And when I am for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” During these tumultuous times, few sayings could be more apt. But, how about “what”? We may perceive the call to action but sometimes feel bereft as to just “what” to do. The Glencoe Community Garden may have your easy way to help with the “what”.
Perhaps one answer lies no further than your kitchen. All the food we eat depends on fertile soil. This is where compost comes in. Properly managed compost is a richly colored, light and sweet smelling earthy product. Rather than putting your apple cores, banana peels, and coffee grounds down the disposal or into the garbage, you can arrange to bring your fruits, vegetables and coffee grounds to be part of the GCG compost.
The Garden’s Compost Country has figured out the magic of composting and now we are hooked. Our first season was a steep learning curve. With no readily available “browns” it meant that newspaper and cardboard had to be shredded by hand. The “greens,” food scraps, were easier to come by. With a little bit of reading, we determined the importance of chopping and turning. Soon, the GCG’s first compost pile was cooking, with steam lofting up with every shovelful turned.
When we wanted to expand: browns became truck loads of leaves collected by the Village of Glencoe; greens became residential pickup using our bicycle powered, “compost-mobile.” and local restaurants, groceries, coffee houses and even breweries (OK, a bit further than Glencoe) chipped in staggering amounts of organic matter! This year we added Winter Composting, with a Sunday morning drop off box at the Takiff Center.
Beyond all the environmental reasons to do this, compost making is a great source of community building as you get down and dirty with your compost buddies. There is no limit to the amount of good we can do! We do, however, need your help to do it. Please contact gcgarden18@gmail.com for information on how you can get involved today.
Mark your calendars for May 7 and May 28 to come out and help with planting the 2017 crops! All ages and abilities welcome at the Garden. Come farm with us!