Weeks 3-5

Article 1:
I think it's great how you can compost 500 kilos of material that would otherwise be waste, it seems to be the most effective and realistic alternative to the current disposal system.

It's really decent of the city to subsidize the cost of the composter, should you choose to install one in your backyard at any point. That seems to be one of the more practical ways of encouraging people to implement them, as it is a substantial change in lifestyle.

I never realized how significant aerating your compost was, but it seems to be quite significant in the process of aerobic bacteria, lest you want that pleasant ammonia smell...

I will be looking for easy methods of aerating compost, as it does seem fairly labour intensive to shuffle it around everyday.

What I don't understand is how they get 500 kg of waste into 100 kg of fertilizer, does the other 400 kg just decompose into the soil and evaporate?

Article 2:
This seems to be a fairly effective way to dispense of a wide range of organic materials, particularily meats such as poultry and steak. I hope it has worked out for him!

I'm glad that he included a way to make your own Bokashi mix, so as not to strictly market it, but rather pass the information along in good will.

Bokashi seems to be a great alternative to conventional aerobic composting, which from the sounds of things tends to get quite smelly, while Bokashi is supposidly odour free!

When at various farms, I'll keep an eye open and ask about how many people actually use the Bokashi mix.

I wonder how wide spread the use of it is, as it seems to be quite effective, but I can't imagine many people going through the trouble of making the mix, while conventional composting mostly just requires your organic materials and some hay to keep the smell down.

Article 3:
Well the leaf mould certainly seems to be effective if you have enough leaves to use, either by themself or in conjunction with a composter.

The mesh cage looks like a great idea, being that it allows maximum airflow through into the leaves, while maintaining the sides of the composter. It could be even more effective to add rows of empty space throughout the cage (ie. 2 rows of mesh about a 1cm apart) to allow greater air flow.

Contrary to the video, I would never consider using pine needles, being that they air so acidic and they have a  tendancy to reek havoc on production gardens which I tend to focus on.

I'm going to look for how people adapt on this design, as it is perfectly sound on itself, but I'm sure one could increase its efficiency a number of ways.

I'm curious to know how many people use these, and why. Whether becuase they have an excess of leaves or if it produces a higher quality fertilizer.

Article 4:
Worm composting looks like yet another great alternative to conventional composting, especially if you life in an appartment and can't have a smelly compost.

I'm suprised at how effective the worms are at breaking down compost, even just a single bed of them at the bottom of a container are supposidly able to turn an entire bin of waste into compost.

It seems the worms take a fair bit of taking care of as well, between their climate, what you feed them, and separating them out when decomposition is complete.

I'm going to be looking for various uses of worm in composting, as I'm sure there are other ways to apply their decompostive abilities.

My only quesiton about worms is: how are you suppose to separate then from the decomposed fertilizer?

Article 5:
It's astounding that those students managed to get 13 8x12 foot beds , a greenhouse, and a aquaponics system in, that's huge! Plus they aren't even students at the school, talk about devotion!

I love how they're not just using it as a garden, but as a means of community building and expansion by reaching out and getting the community to donate, while encouraging leader roles within the school.

An orchard seems like a great idea also, but it would take a fair amount of time for some of the trees (like apple trees) to mature, so it's a shame that those who plant them might not get to the the.... fruits of their labour :p

I'm going to look around and see how many farms actually incorporate orchards into them, as I'm sure they're easy enough to fertilize, and take far less effort than plants to maintain.

I wonder how the students managed to promote their project to such a degree that it got enough public exposure to recieve grants and community donations.