On Saturday the Cowichan Green Community hosted a compositing basics workshop at Centennial Hall as the second in their six-session series of gardening workshops centred around Lake Cowichan's community garden.
Thirteen participants from Lake Cowichan and Youbou attended the event, which consisted of an hour of instruction and discussion, followed by a work party to teach the skills learned in the class.
This class focussed specifically on building a 3 part compost bin re-using readily available low-cost materials such as wooden pallets, rebar, twine and galvanized nails. Instructors Nora Arajs and Erin Ward of Cowichan Green Community discussed the many different types of composting that are out there, but stuck to the 3-bin system for simplicity's sake, since the course was meant to be accessible to new and experienced composters alike.
Some highlights of the workshop are the importance of a lot of carbon or 'brown' material in your compost, (such as leaves, dead grasses, chopped up branches and sawdust) and less nitrogen-rich or 'green' materials such as green grass clippings, kitchen waste, seaweed and the like. The ratio of brown to green should be 30 to 1 to achieve a highly functional compost.
The next workshop in the series runs on Thursday, Nov. 20 and will discuss 'lasagna mulching.' The instructional portion will be in the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena, and all are welcome to attend the instructional portion, the work party, or both. The class runs from 10 to 11 a.m. and the work party from 11:30 until 1:30 or completion.
For more information, email Erin Ward of the Cowichan Green Community at erin@cowichangreencommunity.org.