Winter Innovation

We all slow down when Winter starts to set in. For me, it coincides with the time change. Without much sunlight to work with, but with the same amount of time, I find myself lying in bed a little longer to listen to my wife breathe gently, sitting a little longer over my second cup of coffee in front of the fire, or taking a little longer way to work.

When the crew shows up to work, a little later each week, we chat more about family and kids rather than the work day ahead. The slowness of it all was a welcome relief from the hectic asses-and-elbows mentality of early Spring. But this year is different; it is different for all of us. At Soilutions, we sit in the office and wonder, sometimes aloud, whether this is the year that breaks us. Did we do enough when times were better? True, each winter is tight but we have always had a nest egg from the Spring that, if budgeted properly, would get us through until the phones ring again in late March. We are grateful to the regulars, but they too are worried.

This year is different.

But what I am trying to get to, what the title of this entry alludes to, is that we haven't given up. We have always been a small, diverse group, too smart to take it sitting down. Several years ago we forged an unheard-of agreement with a local government to divert greenwaste from the landfills. We started the Pecan Shell Mulch craze 10 years ago; they used to pay to haul this stuff to the landfill. We were instrumental in getting the construction lumber recycling industry up and running in NM. Then we invented a program that collects foodwaste from local restaurants and hotels. This year we partnered loosely with a company that make wattles, or mulch socks, and services the NMDOT to help mitigate soil erosion on the side of our roads. In short, we have invented, time and again, necessary markets for organics diversion and re-use in NM.

In this dire economic crisis, we feel that we have come through once again. For the first time we are offering a mulch marketed as much for its price as its usefulness. We call it Blower Mulch because it was made originally for use by the large commercial blower trucks that spread thousands of cubic years at a time on hillsides and roadside. It is made of recycled construction lumber, namely dimensional lumber (2x4, 2x6, etc), pallets, crates, and plywood. It is not approved for use on certified organic gardens like our flagship material Premium Compost and other products. We process Blower Mulch much the same way we process many of our products: grind it to 2" and then screen it to 1/2"-1". It's a nice blond material, from a completely renewable resource, economical, and quite useful.


So where's the innovation? Well, granted it isn't on the same scale as starting the only Foodwaste Collection Service in the state, but it is innovative in several ways. Blower Mulch allows LEED construction companies to "close the loop" by using this mulch on it's finished landscapes. It represents a variation on our standard ideology of processing products as little as possible. It forces our customers to look at a product with an open mind; you are not going to find this mulch in the box stores. We have always had the most expensive product on the market; now we beat all private producers' prices for a comparable product.

So come on down and take a free sample home with you.

Finish mulching that 1/2 acre you're tired of weeding but couldn't afford to deal with properly. It's selling for $11/yd3 for the time being until we can all get back on our collective feet again.

Hope to see you soon.

We are Grinding

From this....



to this.



We are grinding now and for the next couple of weeks. I encourage you to come down and witness the event. There are not many opportunities to experience something of this magnitude. For us at Soilutions, grinding IS an event. It takes all of our staff and most of our equipment, working long dusty hours.



It drains the bank account. For all the customers who are disgruntled at paying us to dispose properly of their waste ("You guys are making money from both ends!"), I really want you to come down and see for yourself what goes into processing the raw materials you bring us. If you think about what goes on and that none of it is cheap, you will begin to realize that our tipping fee is more than fair. Just with the fluctuations in diesel fuel alone, we often get burned. What I mean by that is we are expected to charge a set rate to receive greenwaste; but the expense to process that greenwaste is very dependent on the cost of diesel. If we charge $5/yd in February to receive material but grind it in March when diesel has jumped 25%, then we are losing money.

Then consider why and how the municipalities can charge less to bury it when their employees are better paid and better insured; their equipment is new and they give away an inferior product.

Einstein said once "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."

Enough said for now.

Cranes Are Here!

The Sandhill cranes have arrived.



Every year, almost like clockwork, we are rewarded for our hard work by 20 or so Sandhill Cranes. These strange and beautiful creatures make a home of our yard for the winter. They fly off to the river or nearby fields when we arrive and come back to roost for the night amongst our piles.


Come on down to see 'em.

Recent Temperature Changes

We have seen a recent drop in temperatures across the state. Yesterday, we had blinding snow(I couldn't see the red barn in the next lot). The day before it was freezing rain. Not much happening here lately so I figure this is a good topic to address. Invariably I get asked whether the weather extremes impact our composting processes.

So today, while taking weekly temperatures, I decided to photograph the results.

This morning it was right around 18F when we pulled in. (My coffee actually cooled before I could finish it.) Needless to say, I didn't get out and document that temp.
[One of the employees here is a Vermonter. I would expect him to be in his element now what with the cold. But he is as cold as the rest of us. We got to talking about that and figure that it is just because we aren't used to the briskness of it all yet. By January, we'll all be so used to weather like today's that we should go swimming (more on that later)].

Here is the thermometer at 10am.



This next picture is taken immediately after I stuck the thermometer into the pile. It is on the north side of the pile, still in the shade. Look closely to see some frost still.



This is taken in a different portion of the pile, about 5 mins. later.



The reason that the internal temperature is unaffected by the elements is very simple. The heat generated from the compost pile is not environmental; rather it is caused by the cellular break down of the organics by microorganisms. One of the results is the release of energy in the form of heat. The trapped heat produces an environment attractive to the micro organisms, which allows them to reproduce, and so on. Our piles here at the site are large enough to trap that heat. In a smaller back yard compost pile, the heat may be generated but it is not retained and the pile goes dormant.

Cold Frame--Week 3

I have been very busy the last couple of weeks. It seems I've been out of the office spreading the gospel of compost almost as much as I've been in it. Earlier this week, I was in Santa Fe for three days to bring my facility certification back up to date. I haven't been around to tend to the cold frame I made a couple of weeks ago. As the night time temperatures drop, frost becomes hazardous to many plants. I was worried whether they would survive. I needn't have.

(This shows a min/max thermometer. Coldest temperatures for the night are shown on the left.Looks like it dropped to 28F last night.)


After three weeks, our little cold frame is still going strong.



The radishes on the left have really flourished, but it might be too cold for them to set. We'll see. The chard on the right is not going to have any problems; it's far enough along. The cabbage in the middle is still small but it too, should be alright.

Stay tuned.

Harvesting Vermicompost

I usually clean out my worm bins a couple of times a year. The goal is to remove the worm castings and to replenish the organic content of the bin so that it can spend the winter regenerating more worms without being disturbed. Then in the spring when there is a rush on worms at the compost site, this bin will be ready. In the spring, I will screen another bin as a back up. This way I pertually have a bin full of worms to harvest.

It is fairly easy to determine which bin to screen. When the contents of the bin are homoginously dark black and virtually devoid of worms, it is time to harvest. The vermicompost is the waste from the worms, their excrement. As with most creatures, their own excrement is toxic to them. When the bin contains more of their waste then of food, they either move on or die.


Shovel the material into a screen. I vacillate between screening and not screening. I suppose it depends on the application. Screening allows for a finer material, so if you are going to topdress houseplants or a lawn, then I would screen it. If there are lots of undigested particles, if the material has trash in it, then I would screen it. If it's just going into the garden as a soil amendment or if it is already exceptionally fine, then screening is not necessary.

If it is going to be screened, you will need to build a screen. Obviously the size of the mesh determines the size of the finished product. I usually use 1/2" hardware cloth available at all hardware stores. Chicken wire works fine, too; whatever's available. A couple of 2 x 4's and some staples are all you need to finish the construction of the screen.



After you've screened it, you'll be left with two products: what we in the biz call overs and unders.



The unders (that which falls through the screen) is what you are after. I make a quick check to see if any worms fell through and toss any I find back into the bin. The unders are ready to use now in whatever fashion you deem fit.

The overs are then picked through for any trash, rocks, or worms...



and put back into the bin for further composting.



Then I fill the bin back up with readily available organic material, in this case, horse manure. (At home, I don't fill the bin up immmediately. Rather I fill it as kitchen and yard waste become available.)




I water the material and clean it up all nice and pretty. It should be teeming with worms in a month or so.

Hope

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future."

My political views are my own. I try to welcome thoughtful opinions regardless of origin. I feel this statement, however, offers so much to us as a country. We have a reason to be proud again.

Cold Frame Construction- one week later

Here are the radish seeds sprouting.




If you look closely, the chard seeds are starting to show as well.



I am still waiting for the cabbage. Stay tuned.

Cold Frame Construction

As the weather cools, I get rejuvenated about the garden. Currently I am swimming in melons and beets and carrots. But I know that soon enough the summer bounty will wane. I will quickly go from being selective of which fruits to pick to scrounging for something that isn't soft from frost. In recent years, I have tried to remember to plant cool weather seeds in August. This year I did remember and have a nice crop of lettuces already. The problem has always been finding space. So I started constructing raised beds that I can cover as it cools, or shade in the spring as it warms. These raised beds also help define the garden and don't get in the way of the larger summer plot, to which I add compost and rototill every fall and spring.

I convinced the bosses (not hard to do really) to let me build a cold frame at work as a sort of show bed. I told them I could convince people more easily to use our topsoil if they can see a pleasant little crop of radishes, beets, and greens. Besides, with what we promote and believe as a company, how can we NOT have a vegetable garden?! (Actually, we tried several years ago. We did it differently and got hammered by the rabbits, the wind and the sun.)

So I did build one. It really is very simple, it only took me a morning to do it all.
As always, I start at the trusty recycled lumber pile. Between what's available and what I have in mind, I can collect the necessary pieces.



Then, I construct the bed and place it. In this case, it is on a south facing wall. It will get plenty of shade from a beautiful Chitalpa in the summer, but when the tree drops its leaves, the bed will get a heavy dose of winter sun. Hopefully the building will trap some heat and protect the cold frame from some wind. Maybe we will even get a little heat from the radiant heater that sits inside the office.



Before I fill the frame with a high quality planting medium (read: Soilutions' Topsoil Blend; a mixture of our Premium Compost and local sandy loam that is approved for use on certified organic gardens in NM) I placed a wire mesh on the bottom. My intent is to keep squirrels, skunks, or gophers out of it. I used a piece of galvanized hardware cloth that we had sitting around the heap. Chicken wire would work well, too.



In goes the Topsoil Blend...



then the seeds.




I scavenged a couple of lengths of 3/4" PVC and some sheeting from our trash pile and put together a little hoop frame to cover the bed. This will act like a greenhouse: keep the moisture and the day's heat in and the frost out. 1/2" PVC would have worked better, i.e., more flexible, but when you using recycled materials, you take what you find.



If, during the day, it gets too warm, which is all too often this time of year, I can open the lid temporarily.



Stay tuned for progressive photos of the sprouts. Don't be bashful, come on down and grab a radish or two!