Category: Composting

Compost Connection: W.O.R.M.S!

6/19/2017

Early in February the emails were exchanged, and by mid-March the Saturday date had been set with the Outreach coordinator of NYC Compost Hosted by Big Reuse. Erycka De Jesus saved Saturday, June 3rd, for our RIGC community connection date. Anthony Longo began searching for the name and he found it -Weekend Organics Recycling Mission+Sifting - W.O.R.M.S!

Roosevelt Island is fortunate to have NYC Compost hosted by Big Reuse offering our weekly Food Scrap Drop Off Site near the Farmer's Market. As of a last count in March, Roosevelt Islanders had diverted over 35,000 pounds from landfill. (That's about the weight of an 18 wheeler semi truck!) RI has also received give backs of hyper local compost from the Queensboro Bridge site for gardens, trees, and schools on Roosevelt Island.

Anyone who wanted to learn more about composting was invited to join Roosevelt Island Garden Club and NYC Compost hosted by Big Reuse this Saturday, June 3rd for a Compost Connection Event.

This was our first open composting event in RIGC community gardens (across from 750 Main Street) and we were ready and set up for visitors between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. on June 3rd!

However, the visitors came even before 1:00! As soon as baseball players on the field north of the garden saw Anthony Longo setting up, they were there and present and searching for worms and learning about composting! We had a great afternoon with both middle school and teen volunteers, RIGC hosts and volunteers and children and adults learning and experiencing compost sifting first hand! I addition we sifted about 3 cubic yards of compost from mulch that had been cold cooking outside the fence for a year and gardeners quickly scooped it up! Don't worry, there is more..always more!

18 Day Composting Trial at RIGC by Chris Enock

11/19/2016

If you were in the gardens last Sunday, you may have seen and heard Chris as he worked saying,"It's like making a salad!" Gina was helping out and her comment was, "He's on a mission!"

Chris explained,"We are trying to see if we can get the time to compost down to 18 days. It will take a few tries to get it right for sure. This is the first attempt, started this past Sunday 11/13. In theory and if done correctly, this batch will be completely done by 12/1. We will let you know how it goes!"

Here are some pics of the different materials being added to the compost heap in the order of the layers:

This idea was inspired by the video Soil by Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Institute: (Please click on this title above or on the url below. Or you can copy and paste the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_-fPGcnDyE) The bit specifically about composting starts at around 17 minutes in to the film.

Chris approached Anthony Longo, who was glad to arrange for him to work on this project. And so, the experiment has begun...

Compost and Mulch: Care for Our Garden Soil

7/14/2016

Anthony Longo and other Compost Committee Members appreciate your constant help with our compost program. NYC Compost Project experts Devin Reitsma and Leah Retherford have both visited the RIGC system and given advice and commendations for what we are doing together.

We currently have compost that can be sifted and can show you how! Send an email or leave a message in the garden for Julia or Anthony or Michael. We can show you how this works. We also have wood chips from RIOC chipping that are usable for mulching your paths or beds.

As you clean up, please keep following the signs to New Materials (inside) and Branches Only (outside). Take any and all smaller plants like hosta and smaller branches to the New Materials bin to compost. Please remember that if you clip up a bush or hosta plant or vine in your garden, then you should re-clip it or break it into smaller pieces for the compost pile.

Branches should be at least an inch thick or more, otherwise they can be easily chopped up for Mother Nature's Salad! This will help us immensely and keep items out of landfill when RIOC chips. No plastics, ornaments or used lumber in the branches please. We have to sort when these mistakes happen.

In addition all the black tumblers are now open for kitchen scraps: fruits, vegetables, rice, bread but no meat or dairy. Bring these items down at any time.

Full Circle from Food Scraps to School Garden on 5/20/16

5/22/2016

IDig2Learn says "Thanks for a spectacular day!"

Thanks to the custodial staff at 217, school leadership and PTA, Roosevelt Island Garden Club and iDig2Learn today we witnessed full circle our weekend food scraps collected by BigReuse, through NYC Compost project, return to our soil. Jeff, Kenny, and the entire custodial team made beautiful garden border beds and tilled the soil to prepare the beds.

RI Garden club member Anthony Longo and son, Anthony alongside, parent Dee and Ms. Fokine sifted the soil and added the BigReuse compost. iDig2Learn sourced native plants including phlox paniculata "Jeana", lobelia cardinalis, milkweed, alongside some yarrow, ajuga and mums from the Central Park conservancy. Today children and their families had their gloves and trowels in hand and incredibly planted over 100 pollinator friendly plants in 35 minutes! Thanks to Joey and Dimis for turning on the water to soak both the plants and us.

RIGC is so glad to be a part of all this! We say thanks again to everyone in this circle and .... "Remember to bring your food scraps on Saturdays to the RI Food Scrap Drop Off Site run by NYC Compost hosted by BigReuse!" Since late November 2015, Roosevelt Islanders have brought in 10,504 pounds - over 5 tons of food scraps with over 2,242 drop offs and 2,761 interactions. Spread the word and keep bringing us all full circle from food scraps to gardens!

Enjoy this collage of photos of the amazing transformation.

What's inside the white buckets with the green smiley face?

5/8/2016

Grounds for the Garden is a corporate program that Starbucks began in 1995. We are fortunate that Ryan, manager of our Roosevelt Island Starbucks, and Anthony, RIGC Compost Chair, got together and formed a plan along with Julia, a member, and Aiesha, a new associate. After donating food grade buckets and covering them with our logos, we began making regular pick ups at Starbucks about one month ago. The coffee grounds go into our RIGC compost piles and provide nitrogen rich ph balanced ingredients that are working like magic! But it is actually just compost chemistry. When a static compost pile heats up, this is very good news. Our recent temperature records were up to 150-160 degrees Fahrenheit. Take a look at the slide show of images below and watch for the steam!

According to Oregon State University Extension Service, "Coffee grounds are a great addition to the garden and compost pile. It helps to recycle this great organic resource and reduces the amount of organics going to the landfill! Some information about coffee grounds: Coffee grounds are about 2% nitrogen by volume. Grounds are not acidic; the acid in coffee is water-soluble so the acid is mostly in the coffee. Coffee grounds are close to pH neutral (between 6.5 - 6.8 pH). Coffee grounds improve soil tilth or structure."

We welcome volunteer help of any amount for initiatives like this and the Food Scrap Drop Off Site offered every Saturday by NYC Compost hosted by Big Reuse. Send an email to rigardenclub@gmail.com and the RIGC Board Secretary will forward your contact along.

Tree Mulching? RI Progresses Branch by Branch

1/2/2016

Many thanks to Geof Kerr and Anthony Longo!

ALL of the leftover trimmings from the PS 217 PTA holiday Christmas tree sale have been gathered for chipping. This happened in both 2014 and 2015! Every little bit helps our lovely planet earth!

RI Gardeners and other RI Residents are now asking about how to get their Christmas trees mulched or recycled. If you have a car, you can transport your tree to drop off at the Green Thumb and Land Restoration composting site in LIC under the Queensborough Bridge. More info here on the map.

In addition, the DSNY Zero Waste site gives you information here for both live and fake tree recycle/reuse options.

If you would like to connect with other Island residents who hope to work with RIOC on plans for next year's 2016/2017 trees please send an email to rigardencluboutreach@gmail.com.

A mountain of tree trimmings piled up in front of the back fence and set to be mulched.

Lots and lots of trees sold this year. These trimmed ends will all be chipped and mulched instead of being sent to a landfill.

NYC Compost Project and BIG Reuse on Roosevelt Island

11/22/2015

Help us welcome Ryan Olds and other NYC Compost - BIG Reuse staff to our Island!

On Saturday, November 28th NYC Compost Project hosted by BIG Reuse will be starting an Organics Recycling program at the Saturday Farmer's Market under the helix, with the mission of "Rebuilding Our Soil, Neighborhood By Neighborhood".

Instead of sending organics to landfills via AVAC, Island residents will be able to drop off kitchen scraps at an organics collection station at the Saturday Farmer's Market. The scraps will go to a local composting site under the Queensborough Bridge on Vernon Blvd. The compost created will also be used locally for street trees, parks, and urban gardens. You can find out even more and see pictures here.

Island leadership, avid RI composters, the PTA of PS 217, the RI Girl Scout troops and the RI Garden Club are all excited to help welcome this program to Roosevelt Island. If you would like to help out in any way as a volunteer, please contact Big Reuse or email rigardenclub@gmail.com. We will help to educate and encourage and find like minded composting neighbors on Roosevelt Island.

YES! Accepted Items List
Fruit rinds and peelings
Vegetable scraps of all kinds
Cut or dried flowers
Coffee grounds, filters, and paper tea bags
Bread and grains
Egg shells
Nutshells and Corncobs
Stale beans, flour, and spices
Houseplants and potting soil (clean)

Please Don’t Bring Any of These

Meat or fish scraps
Cheese or dairy products
Fats, grease, oil, or oily foods
Cat or dog feces or Kitty litter
Colored or glossy paper
Coal or charcoal ashes
Diseased or insect-infested houseplants or soil
Non-compostable materials: plastic, metals, or glass

2015 Compost Area Renovations: A Great Success!

10/26/2015

Anthony Longo, Vaughn Anglesey, Karen Lee and other members worked hard in the heat of late July and August to update and enlarge our compost area. We were very fortunate to have $250.00 of scaffolding lumber donated from Build It Green. So our compost area is also partially made of reused materials. The updated RIGC system now provides enough mass in the outdoor piles to bring the temperatures up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and beyond. This is great news for killing weed seeds. Certain slats come out to make work much easier for moving the materials.

Bring your new materials (greens and browns) that overflow from composting in your own plots. Kitchen scraps (fruits and vegetables) go in the black tumblers.

Please do not add any plastic or plastic bags or use them anywhere. Recycle your grocery bags at Gristedes.

Anthony spends about 20 hours a month working with the Compost Area. Karen Lee also spends many hours helping out. All ages can help sift and prepare compost for plots. Read more at this link and join us actively next season!

http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/downloads/pdf/promotional-materials/outdoor-composting-guide-06339-f.pdf

R I G C Compost: In Earth We Trust

7/18/2014

Karen Lee, Ron Schuppert, and others began leading the club toward a return to composting last year. They purchased tumbler bins and Karen began offering regular classes about composting.

This spring in 2014, the Board voted to appoint Anthony Longo as Ad Hoc Compost Committee Chair. He has been working with Julia Ferguson, one of the three new directors on the Board, to create a sustainable composting system for our club. Our current compost committee has about eight active members including associates. Anthony's first success was to ban the purchase and use of the large black plastic bags. His motto is "What comes from the earth, goes back to the earth."

According to Karen, who worked assiduously last year on this initiative, "Because of the the combined efforts and improved cooperation of all the club members we have reduced the amount of solid waste that we are producing by 85%." It is true that we have a system in place for our 2014 gardening system and will be working to refine and make improvements in the fall. We are offering regular classes, with the next one scheduled for July 19th, and have produced the equivalent of four blue wheelbarrows full of organic compost since last season. Click here for more information or see the links page for more reading about this important subject.