Rise and Shine is collecting pumpkins for their compost bins. They would love to get as many as they can. The scholars already have a few in the garden behind the church and they would love more! Please drop your pumpkins off in the garden at Rise and Shine, located at Bethel A Baptist Church located at 290 Oakdale St, Brevard, NC 28712. Have questions? Please contact Hannah at [email protected]. Thank you!
Thank you to everyone who made Harvest Fest an heart warming community event. What a special evening. It was so wonderful to share a potluck dinner with everyone. Transylvania Shares was onsite and brought their grinding mill. I brought in corn I had grown and it was milled into grits and flour. We made cornbread on the spot and shared it. It was a wonderful experience. What a wonderful, loving community we live in. Thanks to all the Moving to Conservers members who attended. After a (public) house full of people we had almost no clean up. Zero waste is such a gift.
It is amazing how much is going on in John’s and my life in regards to reuse and eliminating waste. Earlier this year we advertised for 3 compost positions. One was to work with Rise and Shine to set up and manage a compost program. The second was for a pick up and drop off service and the third was to work with households in our community who want to compost and want a service to help. Rise and Shine now has a paid position managing their compost and community garden! The position was filled in the summer. The student hired for the job has moved on to start her studies. It was perfect timing. When we worked with Rise and Shine regarding the position we had someone who was starting in September so the summer employee who helped get it underway was a perfect fit. We have learned as a group how composting at home can significantly reduce the amount of garbage we send to the landfill. [...]
Compost, compost, compost compost! A day rarely goes by when John and I don't receive a request to help someone with their compost. We are currently working to accommodate three different compost requests. First, folks are asking if we can pick up their food scraps. Second, folks are asking if we can help them set up their own compost bin and help maintain it. Third, we are working with an organization to help them set-up an onsite compost facility so they can divert food scraps from the landfill. Awareness of the value of composting is definitely on the rise. We need help. How can you help? Sign up with Share Waste. Do you want food scraps? We need more places to take food scraps. If you would like more scraps for your compost system, please let us know. Even better, sign up on the Share Waste app and let folks know! Do you want your scraps picked up? Sign up on the Share Waste app and let folks [...]
Leif Olsen treated us to an incredible discussion about mycology. Wow, the stuff is everywhere, thank goodness. We had an amazing turnout and the food was divine. Thank you Leif for sharing your time and knowledge and thanks to everyone who shared their time and delicious goodies. Over 40 people enjoying the evening and our trash can didn't even notice. Thanks everyone for supporting zero-waste events. It is so kind to not leave a lot of garbage for folks to clean up.
We need help! We have more demand for composting services than we can handle. We are looking for someone to help us increase composting in the county. We have about 6 - 8 hours of work a week, some flexible hours. We can provide all the training. If you are interested, please let us know. We would love to help someone start their own company and help provide services we can't keep up with. You can email us at [email protected] or call at 304-482-3062. Thanks! Kim & John
We will host a potluck on Thursday June 17th at 6 pm at the Cedar Mountain Canteen. Please bring a covered dish to share and your own non-disposable place setting. Plant-based meals are encouraged and all dishes are welcome. Everyone is welcome to join us. We look forward to getting together. At 6:30 pm we will enjoy an informal talk by Leif Olsen about applied mycology and focus on having plenty of Q&A about topics people are interested in. Leif Olson is an environmental scientist and educator with a background spanning ecological field research, environmental chemistry, soil health management and mushroom farming. He worked for two years as a cultivation manager at Pisgah Gourmet, a local mushroom farm in Brevard, NC and currently operates Integrated Land Enhancement, an environmental consulting and education business based in Asheville, NC. Leif has taught all over the country about fungi, soil, plants, compost and more. He also started co-hosting the Applied Mycology podcast earlier this year, a show featuring discussions with co-host [...]
We received an email this week from the Sharing House asking if we could help them learn to manage the compost bins built for them. I told them absolutely, yes. Are you interested in helping? Please let us know. Creating soil is one of the greatest things we can do for the earth as so much is being turned into dirt, void of life. Let's help the Sharing House! Send an email to [email protected] if you are interested in helping. Thanks and thanks Sharing House for asking!
Growing food organically and planting native plants and trees is one of our passions. John and I are now part owners of the Cedar Mountain Canteen and we want the community to enjoy locally grown food so we are busy planting. We have planted 2 peach trees, rhubarb, blueberry bushes, strawberries, and are planning on much more as the weather warms up. We have also planted 2 Red Bud trees and 1 Dogwood in the garden for shade. We planted bee balm, a native flower. Our dear friend Susan Sunflower brought us native Green and Golds and planted them at the base of our shade trees and also blessed us with a couple of Oconee Bells, a rare native flower. Michael Plauche of the Transylvania County Bird Club brought us 4 bird boxes for our food forest as well. We have found nesting birds are one of the greatest forms of natural pest control. We received some gorgeous hanging baskets from some of our neighbors for the garden [...]
A wonderful resource for home gardeners and farmers of all size:, just in time for spring garden dreams: The Hidden Half of Nature, The Microbial Roots of Life and Health by David R. Montgomery, Anne Bikle In The Hidden Half of Nature, Montgomery and Bikle start a garden in their poor soil back yard. That led directly to the need for organic compost, via giving us the history to understand microbial life in a decent soil, why their initial soil had it’s particular components, and other wonderful revelations. The next part of their journey was to review and change their diet, to support their immune systems and, in this case, prevent cancer. This includes how human bodies work and, very timely, how infection gets to humans from other animals. They talk about domestic animals and the development of targeted vaccination… covid and wild animal access to humans, for example. The next chapters move back to food, a study comparing an animal based diet (meat & cheese) and [...]
