Giving worms a back rub: Composting 1.0
by Kathryn and John Moery
“Anything we do should be done with the residents,” affirmed Daniel Driscoll, one of the founders of the Yesterday's/Tomorrow Composting Company - a new initiative that aims to create meaningful work opportunities through composting. Currently, there are nine CILA residents fully participating under the guidance of Daniel Driscoll, Liam Sanchez and Carmen Manfredini, staff members who founded the project. The founders exude a passion for this initiative to “shift the culture of Misericordia on how we perceive and process food waste while empowering residents to have a lasting impact on their community”. This work appeals not only to our residents but also to those who seek a better connection to themselves and the Earth.
Two teams of residents (soon to be three) participate weekly in the entire composting process. The teams collect food scraps in buckets from ten participating CILA homes and then deposit them into the compost bins residing in the backyards of two CILA homes. Only raw food materials can be collected (no meat, no dairy). After collection, the buckets are brought to one of the two active bins to begin layering. After dumping the materials, the buckets are cleaned and sanitized for return to active duty. The food materials are collected once a week.
The process of composting begins by aerating the bottom with a layer of sticks, twigs, or thin pieces of wood to create a base. What follows is a layer of “greens”, which is all of the collected organic waste. Dirt from any source is spread on the top. These two layers are then covered with “brown stuff” – paper, grass, and leaves for nitrogen. Water is added as the last layer, and the mixture sits for 3-5 days, during which time the residents use an auger to insert holes in the mixture. The earthworms and grubs take over, and the compost is ready within 3-6 months.
The residents helped staff construct a 500-gallon, two-compartment bin which is in the Moore House yard. Eventually, this bin, and another to be built, will replace the bins currently used. The new compost bin can be opened at the bottom to release the “gold dirt" for spreading in gardens. New layers continue to be added on top of existing layers, and the process of converting food waste into “gold dirt” continues ad infinitum. In other words, what would otherwise sit in the landfill for ten years emitting methane gas is transformed into valuable nutrients for the soil.
During the visit, five participants in the project shared impressions of their contributions to this process. These comments included: “It’s messy”, “Outdoor work is nice”, and one resident said he was happy when hearing the grinding of the auger and did an imitation of that noise with a smile. One young lady reflected that composting is “keeping it healthy and benefiting the earth”. Eventually, one of the team members would like to make a video of the process, but, in the meantime, enjoys listening to music from “Glee” on his headphones while shredding the paper.
The most immediate goals for this composting project are to involve many more residents from other residential areas and to collect materials from the other houses, the Misericordia Hearts and Flour Bakery and Café, and the main kitchen. It is expected that the participants in the project will soon be paid for their work. It is hoped that a composting bin can also be built somewhere on campus to provide the Greco Gardens Greenhouse with valuable materials to amend the soil in the gardens.
In a recent interview with some Loyola students, the founders shared that the transcendent goal behind YTCC is “enriching the souls of the earth’s inhabitants by enriching the earth’s soil”. A little food for thought…
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