On-Farm Composting Handbook
Thanks Kenn Webb, the Transylvania County Solid Waste Director, for sharing this manual on composting! It is quite extensive. Farm Compost manual
Garden Tours
A few years ago John and I started a garden. Now growing our own food takes an immense amount of our day and we love it. We learn every day. It is so rewarding to harvest and eat a meal from our yard. We have organized 2 garden tours this year, the first at our home and the second at Eagle Nest Academy. Torry has approached us about a garden tour at his home in August. I learn so much at the tours and have even scored some plants! Interested in hosting a tour? We can do some work for you while there or just stroll and learn. Let us know if you would like to host us for a gathering at your garden.
Moving to a zero-waste home
A little over 2 years ago, John and I decided to move towards being a zero-waste home. We had seen first hand the destruction fracking did to our community and learned that a lot of the drilling was done to get gas to crack to make plastic. I never gave using plastic a thought because we took it to the recycling center. We learned that since China stopped taking our plastic, there isn’t much of a market for it so it tends to go in the landfill or into the ocean. The more we studied, we started wondering where “away” was and what disposable meant. When we threw something away we realized it just left our presence and went to someone else’s, usually around minority communities. We concluded that nothing is disposable. Landfills are lined and capped with rubber so items don’t decay in them. It started to seem barbaric to send our trash somewhere to be covered and buried. That is civilized, we asked ourselves? So we [...]
Coffee Carts is for sale. That compost drop-off location is no longer available
Pauline, owner of Coffee Carts, has been a great friend to Moving to Conservers. She has closed Coffee Carts and has the property for sale. As a result, out compost drop-off location there is no longer available. Thanks Pauline for being a loving partner. We wish you the best. Much love.
Fermenting classes on June 13th and July 11th
Noel, who taught fermenting at our Use Food Scraps Symposium, saw in our newsletter we were going to pass the hat to fund our new website, MovingToConservers.com. She contacted us and offered to teach some fermenting classes as a fundraiser. Thank you Noel! The classes will take place during our potluck gatherings. Her first class will be on June 13th and the second will be on July 11th. Here are the details: June 13th: Making Naked Kraut From Noel: We’ll make 4 krauts: naked, caraway, apple/carrot and a beet/ginger. If I can borrow you and 2 others to assist [I bet I can snag Rachel as well] we can make it a fun group gig. For my donation to the pot luck I’ll bring a jar of each of the 4 krauts so folks can taste what they are about to see demoed. July 11th: Carrot fermenting In time for the harvest. Join us and learn tasty carrot fermentation techniques. Please join us and thank Noel for her [...]
The Use Food Scraps Symposium Beer is being released at Oskar Blues Brewery Tuesday, May 28th
You may remember that Oskar Blues Brewery partnered with Bracken Mountain Bakery to brew a beer made out of bread scraps for our Use Food Scarps Symposium. The beer will be made available this Tuesday, May 28th for all to try! We will be there to try it out and get a crowler for delivery to the Bakery. Thanks to both of them for joining us in this experiment!
Spending a few hours with friends while enjoying a cooking class in Cedar Mountain
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.0.47"][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.0.48" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.0.47"][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.0.74" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"] On Sunday April 7th, Val Gerdes, of Whistlestop Market, Tin Roof Pizza and the DFR Room took time out of her beyond busy schedule to teach us a few “chef tricks” on how to use food scraps in cooking. It started with raw potato skins and ended with an amazing meal, all in attendance were sent home with, courtesy of Whistlestop Market. We arrived with a jar to bring caramel home with and left with potato skin appetizers, chicken and dumplings, apple crisp and homemade caramel. Thank you Whistlestop Market for feeding us! The class was free and we all donated money to the Cedar Mountain Community Center, at the request of Val. The Community Center looks amazing. Volunteers have been working hard to get it ready foranother year of community gatherings, potlucks and rentals. [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
The Use Food Scraps Symposium was amazing!
Thanks to everyone who made it possible and attended. They say a picture is worth 1000 words so I thought I would share some. I will follow up with details from each day. For now, please enjoy some pictures. You can see a great article about the essay contest winners in The Transylvania Times here: https://www.transylvaniatimes.com/story/2019/04/01/news/essay-winners-tackle-what-to-do-with-food-scraps/40205.html Many thanks to them for the coverage!
Use Food Scraps Education Day Classes
Use Food Scraps Saturday's education and entrepreneur support day is coming together wonderfully. Here is a list of the classes and offerings during the day. Thanks to everyone who is making this possible! Title: Compost Demystified Instructor: Leif Olson 10 am - 12 pm Creating rich fertile soil is one of the most important activities we can do as people, and compost production is one of the best ways to do this. However, not all compost is created equal and people following textbook prescriptions often fall short of making top quality compost. The good news is, with a basic understanding of the art of building a compost pile and the science of what’s going on inside the pile, anyone can create top-notch compost in their backyard that will surpass the quality of anything that can be purchased at a gardening store. Not to mention the added bonus of diverting waste streams like food scraps, coffee grounds, and cardboard from burdening our landfills and recycling facilities. In this workshop [...]