There were about 15-20 people present from the Echo Hills neighborhood and we had a great time talking about composting as I showed them my Basic Backyard Composting Presentation. We mostly discussed traditional composting methods using a bin or tumbler, but something interesting happened at the end of my presentation when the worm composting method was brought up!  I got the normal disgusted looks from the crowd but also a lot of genuine interest from several people whose faces lit up and asked really good questions. It was great and I was happy to answer their questions! Hopefully I was able to motivate someone to start their own compost pile, whether bin, tumbler or worm.   Note to self: Always bring the worm bin to compost demonstrations and presentations…the worms are always the stars of the show.

Thank you Lori and Adam for inviting me!

I was not able to check out the used books section while I was there, so I have to make sure to stop the next time I drive by.

Friendship Gardens is a network of urban gardens that strive to teach gardening and grow fresh, healthy, local food for Friendship Trays (meals on wheels). We are happy to offer our SPRING vegetable gardening workshop on Saturday March 19th from 10am-Noon. Please register at the link below for our hands-on (bring gloves and water) workshop below. The only cost is two hours of volunteering in one of our gardens that is growing food for Friendship Trays.

At this workshop you will learn about

• Garden bed preparation
• Soil Life
• Spring Gardening, what you can grow and when
• Planting
• Organic pest and disease controls

The workshop will take place at Cooks Community Garden, 3201 Mt Holly Huntersville Rd Charlotte, NC, 28216 http://www.cookscommunitygarden.org/

Sign up now by completing this form:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dF9QUzUxMVg5d0xaNExuY1hfS3BWRnc6MQ

Please visit friendship-gardens.org for more info

FREE program sponsored by the Charlotte Garden Club.

Hear David Blackley speak on vegetables, herbs and fruit production

Time: 7:00pm

Location:  The Mint, 2730 Randolph Road, Charlotte

For more information see www.charlottegardenclub.org or contact 704.236.5275

DATE: Monday, January 24, 2011

For more information on parking and stuff, contact Robert Brener at Robert.Brener@jwu.edu

November 6^th : Compost Classes at St. Albans’s community garden, and Friendship Trays community garden (10a-12noon)

Also, at McDowell Nature center, there will be a 4 hour “teachers do it too” program highlighting composting and creative waste reductions tips teachers can use in the classroom.

November 13^th: Mecklenburg County Shred-it day. we are staffing all four major recycling centers to securely and safely shred papers. We may also collect household hazardous waste items that day as well.

And at McDowell Nature Center, this time for the public, America Recycles Day celebration from 10-2pm. Teaching the public how to re-create the old into the new (holiday decorations, gifts, recycled art, etc).

For more information click on the “Wipe Out Waste events” tab at http://wipeoutwaste.com, or call 704.201.2201.

Create your very own worm bin to take home. Fee includes worms and materials.

All Ages – $15

Reedy Creek Nature Center

Course number16224

Oct 17 Sunday 3:00pm to 4:30pm

Call 704.336.7600 to register

National Garden Association awards Youth Garden Grants to schools and community organizations with child-centered garden programs. In evaluating grant applications, priority will be given to programs that emphasize one or more of these elements: educational focus or curricular/program integration, nutrition or plant-to-food connections, environmental awareness/education, entrepreneurship, and social aspects of gardening such as leadership development, team building, community support, or service-learning.
Five programs will receive gift cards valued at $1000 and 95 programs will receive a $500 gift card to The Home Depot and educational materials. Schools, youth groups, community centers, camps, clubs, treatment facilities, and intergenerational groups throughout the United States are eligible. Applicants must plan to garden with at least 15 children between the ages of 3 and 18 years.

Please contact National Gardening Association and Home Depot for more information and to apply for this funding.

Deadline: November 1, 2010
http://www.kidsgardening.com/YGG.asp

Dog poop is lighting a lantern at a Cambridge dog park as part of a months long project that its creator, artist Matthew Mazzotta, hopes will get people thinking about not wasting waste.

The “Park Spark” poop converter is actually two steel, 500-gallon oil tanks painted a golden yellow, connected by diagonal black piping and attached to an old gaslight-style street lantern at the Pacific Street Park.

After the dogs do their business, signs on the tanks instruct owners to use biodegradable bags supplied on site to pick up the poop and deposit it into the left tank. People then turn a wheel to stir its insides, which contain waste and water. Microbes in the waste give off methane, an odorless gas that is fed through the tanks to the lamp and burned off. The park is small but has proven busy enough to ensure a steady supply of fuel.

Dog owner Lindsey Leason, a 29-year-old Harvard student, said she was all for seeing poop in a new light as she watched her two dogs play at the park.

“Since I have to pick up dog poop a lot, I think I’d rather have it be useful,” Leason said.

The project was funded by a $4,000 grant from Council of the Arts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Mazzotta earned a master’s degree in visual studies last year.

The 33-year-old Mazzotta, who is not a dog owner, got the idea after he visited the park with a friend in 2009. Mazzotta had recently traveled to India and saw people there using poop in so-called “methane digesters” to cook food. As he watched the park’s trash can fill with bags of poop, he remarked to his friend, “In other countries, they use that.”

A similar idea to use dog poop for power was floated in San Francisco about four years ago. But that idea fizzled in the city’s bureaucracy and over concerns about safety, said environmental scientist Will Brinton, who worked with Mazzotta on Park Spark and was consulted in the San Francisco project.

Cambridge Fire Chief Gerry Reardon had his own questions about “Park Spark,” including whether vandalism or poor design could cause the tank’s insides to spill out and how the methane would be safely contained and vented. But Park Spark’s sturdy build and safety features persuaded the fire department to give its approval, he said.

“We try to stay progressive here,” Reardon said.

Mazzotta’s project brings welcome visual distraction to the park, which is bordered by a rutted street, a weed-filled lot and the beaten-down backsides of a couple of buildings. Dog owner Louisa Solano, 68, said she loves Park Spark, though she thought it was “just a wonderful piece of sculpture, you know, modern art” when she first saw it.

The dog-poop converter’s colors, symmetry and clean lines are intentional, but Mazzotta said his greater artistic purpose is to get people thinking differently about what’s around them, including seeing waste as a resource and how to best use the free power it produces.

The practical benefits of the exhibit aren’t lost on Mazzotta.

Burning the methane, which is 30 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, helps the environment, he said. And with dogs dropping tons of poop in cities everywhere, he thinks the idea of using its untapped power has broad appeal.

Brinton, president of Woods End Laboratories in Maine, which specializes in biogas energy development, said biogas from waste is a potentially major and accessible energy source, and a novel project like Mazzotta’s can highlight that.

Mazzotta said right now he’s not planning to start a dog poop energy business but is instead focusing on the ideas behind Park Spark, which will be dismantled at month’s end. To him, the dog poop device helps fill a need for clean energy and better waste disposal, and all people need to do to fuel it is look around.

And be careful where they step.

Story posted 2010.09.22 at 06:21 AM EDT (This story was emailed to me and I don’t know where it was published but it is interesting…)

Registration fee of $10 includes instruction, booklet and a wire bin. Classes begin Saturday, Oct. 2 and will be held various Saturdays until December, at Friendship Trays and Little Sugar Creek Community Gardens, in Charlotte; and St. Albans Community Garden in Davidson, NC. Class time is 10am-noon.
For more information and dates, click on the “Wipe Out Waste events” tab at http://wipeoutwaste.com, or call 704.201.2201.

Seedlings are sold on a first come, first served basis while supplies last but you can pre order now and ensure that you get what you want.

2011 Tree Seedling Sale Order Form

The class is limited to 20 people per class and required for anyone wishing to participate in the Master Composter program. Classes are held from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon at a cost of $10 each. They are held outdoors so please dress appropriately. Closed toe shoes are required for safety reasons.

Pre-registration is required. The deadline for registration is the Wednesday before the class.  Please select a workshop and complete the registration form for online registration or register by phone 704-336-4304.

These classes are free to Master Composters (you can take as a refresher, or offer to assist teach it), CMS teachers, and County Employees.

More information and to register for the compost class