Balanced Compost

May's Sustainable Living Tip

Keep a bucket of dry leaves, shredded paper, sawdust, wood chips or coconut coir next to your composter so you can easily add the "browns" you need to promote fast, odor-free, and thorough decomposition of organic waste.

More Facts About "Browns" for Composting

1. Composting works best when you have a balanced ratio of carbon to nitrogen in the mix of materials you are composting.
2. Materials with a low carbon to nitrogen ratio are called "greens."
3. Materials with a high carbon to nitrogen ratio are called "browns."
4. Fresh yard cuttings and kitchen scraps are "greens."
5. Dried leaves, shredded paper and cardboard, sawdust, wood chips, peat moss, and coconut coir are "browns."
6. If you have too many "greens," your compost will likely smell bad, get slimy, ball up, and take more than six weeks to finish.
7. If you have too many "browns," pieces won't break down, your compost will never heat up and will take months or years to finish.
8. If you need to add lime to your pile, that's an indication that 1) you have too many greens, or 2) you aren't turning your pile often enough. Add more browns and turn your pile to ensure good mixing and air flow; you'll probably find you get better results with no need for lime.
9. Compost "activators" give a shot of "greens" to your pile. These are the perfect solution for compost piles that are heavy on the browns and aren't getting up to temperature. Mix the activator into your pile and add water; your pile should quickly heat up and start decomposing. If it doesn't, add more water and mix again, or wait for warmer weather. Getting a compost pile going is a lot like lighting a fire: you need to have the right fuel and it may take a few tries to get it started.
   
10. "Digester" style composters are stationary designs that sit on the ground, digesting scraps from the bottom up. Too many "greens" in this type of composter can become densely packed and odorous. Too many browns can also become tightly packed and biologically inactive. A good strategy is to always toss in a layer of greens and then a layer of browns on top. If necessary, you can also use a compost aerator to poke holes down through the layers to help water and air get to the microbes doing the work of decomposing.
11. "Tumbling" composters are a great way to make compost fast, but they also are prone to creating "compost balls" with uncomposted food waste in the middle of the ball. Try adding coarse browns like wood chips or coconut coir to keep clumps from forming. Also, a "poking stick" is handy to have on hand to break up any clumps that do form.
    
12. Your compost pile should never smell like a cesspool. If odors are a concern, it's better to err on the side of too many browns. Your compost will take a little longer to finish, but you'll avoid nasty smells.
13. If I have just one piece of advice to give to novices when it comes to composting, it is that "browns" are NOT optional! Especially in the spring, you really do need to have a plan for adding browns to your compost. Putting nothing but kitchen scraps in your composter is a recipe for a stinky disaster. Think of it like baking bread without the flour: you may end up with something edible, but it's a lot easier to follow the recipe. The good news is that whether it's leaves from your yard, or junk mail from advertisers, almost everyone has a convenient source of browns at hand.
14. Whenever you're diagnosing a composting problem, always remember what you W-A-N-T:
    W = Water
    A = Air
    N = Nutrients (greens and browns)
    T = Temperature
    
15. Keep your compost in mind as you clean up your yard throughout the year. If you can store some dried leaves, sawdust or wood chips over the winter, you'll be all set for next spring's composting season!

Environmental Happenings

What's Happening in the Local Environmental Scene and Beyond

F.W. Horch in Brunswick is now open on Mondays!

Store hours: Mon 9:30-4, T-F 9:30-7, Sat: 9:30-6, Sun Closed.

Events in Maine

Thursday, May 7 - Legal Advocacy: Fighting for Environmental Justice, 7:00 pm, Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick. Featuring David Nicholas, Attorney-at-Law, this event is part of a series sponsored by Friends of Merrymeeting Bay with support and valuable door prizes from Patagonia Outlet in Freeport. Free and open to the public.

Thursday, May 7 to Sunday, May 10 - Food+Farm Examining our access to sustainable food, SPACE Gallery, 538 Congress St, Portland. Co-presented by SPACE, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and Cultivating Community. For more information, call 828-5600, email info@space538.org, or visit www.space538.org

Thursday, May 7 - Food+Farm: Ted Ames "Fishing Voices", 7 pm, Space Gallery, 538 Congress St, Portland. The Stonington lobsterman and MacArthur "Genius" winner will discuss his work researching the past and future of wild fisheries and how they can be restored and used sustainably. The event will include a screening of local filmmaker, Cecily Pingree's short film, Fishing Voices. $6 or free for SPACE or MOFGA members, all ages.

Friday, May 8 - Food+Farm: Film "Food, Inc.", 7 pm, Space Gallery, 538 Congress St, Portland. A special advance-release screening of the new documentary exposing how corporations compromise profit over consumer health and safety in the American food industry. The film features such sustainable food luminaries as Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma), Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Joel Salatin (Polyface Farms), and Gary Hirshberg (Stonyfield Farm). Introduction and post-film discussion with Russell Libby, Executive Director, MOFGA. $8 or $6 for SPACE or MOFGA members, all ages.

Saturday, May 9 - Urban Gardening Fair, 9 am, Cultivating Community’s Boyd Street Urban Farm (corner of Cumberland Ave and Franklin Arterial), Portland. A free, family-friendly event featuring a variety of demonstrations including garden preparation, composting, container gardening, rainwater collection and raised bed gardening. With live music, hands-on activities and plenty of opportunities to ask your gardening questions. Free, all ages.

Saturday, May 9 - Food+Farm: Bryant Terry, 7 pm, Space Gallery, 538 Congress St, Portland. Eco chef, author, food justice activist, Bryant Terry works in many facets of food advocacy. He is currently a fellow of the Food and Society Policy Fellows Program and has worked to build a more just and sustainable food system and has used cooking as a tool to illuminate the intersections between poverty, structural racism, and food insecurity. $8 or $6 for SPACE or MOFGA members, all ages.

Saturday, May 9 - Compostmodern Conference on Design and Sustainability, 9 am - 3:30 pm, One Longfellow Square, Portland. AIGA Maine is pleased to present Compostmodern ME - an interdisciplinary conference that explores the range of design thinking necessary to create a socially and ecologically responsible society. Join us for a day of convergence - webcasts, live presentations and discussions at the intersection of design thinking and sustainability. Designers, manufacturers, and business leaders will come together to find inspiration, share knowledge, and explore real world opportunities for transforming products, industries, and lives. For more information, and to register online (by May 6), visit maine.aiga.org. $45 Non-AIGA Members, includes lunch.

Saturday, May 9 - International Migratory Bird Day Festival, 6 am - noon, Pine Tree State Arboretum, 153 Hospital Street, Augusta. Adult bird walks at 6 AM and 8 AM. Children's bird walk at 10 AM. Ongoing festivities from 9 AM until noon including information on caring for birds and attracting them to your own backyard, bluebird information and houses for sale, specimens on loan from Maine State Museum, and more. Children's crafts and activities, including make-your-own bird feeder out of recycled materials, owl pellet dissection, and many others! Please pre-register for bird walks by contacting Toni Pied at 621-0031 or ptsaedu@roadrunner.com

Saturday, May 9 - Sustainable Energy Conference, 8 am - 4:30 pm, Chewonki Foundation, 485 Chewonki Neck Rd, Wiscasset. Chewonki's 9th annual Sustainable Energy Conference will take place on May 9 on the Chewonki campus. The daylong conference features experts and academic leaders in the field of sustainability and renewable energy, and will showcase the latest technologies and vendors from New England. This event features a host of different renewable technologies, including tidal power, geothermal designs, solar heating, residential wind turbines, green building construction, and electric cars on hand to test drive. The conference is open to the public by reservation. If you have questions regarding the conference, please feel free to contact us: pathways@chewonki.org Registration fee includes the workshops and keynote speaker, interactive exhibits, a tour of Chewonki's renewable energy systems, a continental breakfast, and a hearty lunch. $65

Sunday, May 10 - Food+Farm University, 9 am - 5 pm, Space Gallery, 538 Congress St, Portland. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association helps organize an all-day series of intensive workshops to give attendees the skills to start producing their own sustainable food with a focus on urban/suburban food production. Topics will include small space gardening, beekeeping, chicken care, root cellars, fruit for small spaces and vermicomposting.
9:00 - 9:30 Registration
9:30 - 12:30 Urban Chicken Care (Stacy Collins)
9:30 - 11:15 Grow Your Own Organic Urban Garden (Roger Doiron, Kitchen Gardeners International)
11:30 - 12:30 Vermicomposting (Mark Follansbee, Worm Mainea)
12:30 - 2:00 Lunch Break - on your own
2:00 - 5:00 Backyard Beekeeping & Meadmaking Demo (Erin Forbes, Overland Apiaries & Eli Cayer, Maine Mead Works)
2:00 - 3:15 Basic Root Cellar Techniques for the Basement or Backyard (Cheryl Wixson, MOFGA)
3:30 - 5:00 Selecting and Growing Small Fruit in Small Spaces (Lisa Fernandes, Portland Permaculture & David Buchanan)
All-Day (2 blocks per person): each block is $12.50 or $10 for SPACE or MOFGA Members. Half-Day (1 block only) $15 or $12 for SPACE or MOFGA Members. Buy tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com

Monday, May 11 to Friday, May 15 - Commute Another Way Week is Maine's annual transportation event that promotes the use carpools, vanpools, public transit (bus, ferry and rail), bicycling and walking as cost-effective, healthy and enjoyable alternatives to driving alone to work. Since 1995, hundreds of employers and thousands of commuters throughout Maine have participated in Commute Another Way Day and helped reduce pollution and traffic, made Maine a better place to live. For more information, visit www.gomaine.org

Monday, May 11 - Gardening to Attract and Conserve Beneficial Insects and Spiders, 7 pm, Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick. If you are interested in natural pest management and learning how beneficial insects and spiders can help control insect pests in your yard and garden, then this workshop is for you. Mike Sowers, Cumberland County Master Gardener, will describe an ecological approach to sustainable pest management that includes the use of practical gardening and landscaping techniques to enhance essential resources for our natural enemies. Participants will learn to identify and attract the good bugs with flowering plants and creative garden design. For information, please call 833-5125. Free and open to the public. Door prizes.

Thursday, May 14 - How and Why to Keep Bees in Top Bar Beehives, 7 pm, F.W. Horch, 56 Maine Street, Brunswick. Gold Star Honeybees will present a beekeeping discussion and demonstration of top bar beekeeping. Both experienced beekeepers and "wannabee" beekeepers are encouraged to attend. For more information, please call 729-4050. Free and open to the public.

Saturday, May 16 - Birdathon 2009. Join birders throughout Maine -- from Arundel to Aroostook and Fort Kent to Fort Foster -- for this once-a-year, one-of-a-kind birding event! What is the Birdathon? It’s a bird-watching event during peak migration in which participants try to identify as many bird species as possible. Birdathon is also a great fundraising event for Maine Audubon, supporting our mission to conserve Maine’s wildlife and wildlife habitat. It's not to late to form a team or decide to go it alone, and then head out to count, have fun, and raise money for wildlife conservation. Questions? Call Eric Hynes at (207) 781-2330, ext. 237. Want to register, form a team, or make a pledge? Please call Linda Ledoux at (207) 781-2330, ext. 215.

Wednesday, May 20 - The Green and Lean Lecture Series: Cutting Your Electric Bill 50%, 7 pm, St. John Episcopal Church, 315 Main Street, Southwest Harbor. Green & Lean is a series of monthly lectures which focus on ways to save money and resources. We have adopted a very pragmatic approach -- no technical jargon, no complicated concepts, just straightforward, useable information you can put to use in your own home or place of work. For more information, contact Erika Shriner, 244-3532 or jerika@roadrunner.com

Thursday, May 21 - Preserving the Harvest, 10 am - 1 pm, American Legion Post 35, 413 Broadway, South Portland. Ever wonder how to preserve all those great garden vegetables? Our hands-on food preservation workshops will teach you some basics steps, like how to use pressure canners and water bath canners to preserve pickles, jam, and vegetables. Learn from the experts. We will provide fresh produce and canning jars. You will receive Preserving the Harvest Resource Materials. Registration required. Space is limited. Call the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Cumberland County office at (207) 780-4205 or 800-287-1471 (in Maine) for more information or to register. Registration deadline is May 14, 2009. Course and Materials Fee: $10.00 per person.

Thursday, May 28 - Preserving the Harvest, 1 pm - 4 pm Session A, 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm Session B, University of Maine Cooperative Extension Lisbon Falls County Office, 24 Main St, Lisbon Falls. Ever wonder how to preserve all those great garden vegetables? Our hands-on food preservation workshops will teach you some basics steps, like how to use pressure canners and water bath canners to preserve pickles, jam, and vegetables. Learn from the experts. We will provide fresh produce and canning jars. You will receive Preserving the Harvest Resource Materials. Registration required. Space is limited. Call the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Cumberland County office at (207) 780-4205 or 800-287-1471 (in Maine) for more information or to register. Registration deadline is May 21, 2009. Course and Materials Fee: $10.00 per person.

Saturday, May 30 - Small Farm Field Day, 9 am - 4 pm, MOFGA's Common Ground Education Center, Unity. This is a great day of workshops and demonstrations for farmers, gardeners and homesteaders. Activities will include: scything; yoga; horse-drawn farm equipment demos; pasture raised rabbits and butcher demonstration; poultry exhibit; low-impact forestry woodlot tour; chainsaw sharpening and basic maintenance; timber felling; weed and pest identification; homestead metalworking and blacksmithing; baking in a wood-fired oven; dairy goat milking demonstration; tours of MOFGA's windmill & solar hot water systems; spinning and fiber demonstrations; and a wild and edible plants tour. There will be vendors selling tools, garden supplies and seedlings, and lunch will be available for purchase. Admission $2.

Tuesday, June 2 - Preserving the Harvest, 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm, Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program, 84A Union St., Brunswick. Ever wonder how to preserve all those great garden vegetables? Our hands-on food preservation workshops will teach you some basics steps, like how to use pressure canners and water bath canners to preserve pickles, jam, and vegetables. Learn from the experts. We will provide fresh produce and canning jars. You will receive Preserving the Harvest Resource Materials. Registration required. Space is limited. Call the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Cumberland County office at (207) 780-4205 or 800-287-1471 (in Maine) for more information or to register. Registration deadline is May 23, 2009. Course and Materials Fee: $10.00 per person.

News and Views

On May 1, the National Science Foundation (NSF) released "Solving the Puzzle," a special report calling climate change "the most important puzzle humankind has attempted to solve." In the report, the NSF cited compelling evidence of climate change:

• Ecologists have noted marked changes in the habitats of the species they study -- where they find a particular species and the dates plants first sprout and bloom.
• Ocean scientists have recorded higher temperatures and rising ocean acidity, which alter the characteristics of the most fundamental organisms of the ocean food chain. Coral reefs -- some of which have thrived for centuries -- have died off suddenly as a result of ocean temperatures that exceed the corals’ ability to survive.
• Polar scientists have watched vast tracts of Arctic sea ice melt away.
• Glaciologists have witnessed ice shelves -- once thought too large to be influenced by anything short of cataclysmic environmental change -- break up into icebergs in a matter of days.
• Social scientists have recorded the bewilderment of indigenous people. Their cultural knowledge, which stretches back in time through numerous generations, holds no record of the kinds of environmental changes they are encountering today.
• Paleoclimatologists have discovered -- through tree ring data, ice cores, and other corroborating records -- that the concentration of carbon dioxide, and Earth’s average temperature, are nearing levels that haven’t been reached for hundreds of thousands of years.

The NSF is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; [and] to secure the national defense." With an annual budget of about $6.06 billion, the NSF is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities. They are asking for additional funding to help build the "scientific foundation for the tools that humanity may need in the future to counteract the effects of global climate change."

This year, International Compost Awareness Week is May 3 to May 9. If you like to rot a lot, this is a great time to get out some compost and spread it around!

Featured Products

Featured Products for May

Sun-Mar 200 Garden Composter

This innovative outdoor composter is based on a brilliant concept: put yard and kitchen waste in one opening, and remove finished compost from another. Inside the unit are two drums: new material enters the outer drum, fills it up, tumbles into the inner drum, then comes out the middle as finished compost. Suitable for handling kitchen scraps and small volumes of yard waste.

Direct Shipped $275 + shipping
Pick Up in Store $299

Learn more »

Kitchen Compost Bucket - Recycled Plastic

Make your home composting program easier to manage. Perfect for short-term storage of kitchen scraps, this kitchen compost carrier features an optional carbon filter to eliminate odors caused by composting materials.

Small (5.8 qts) $17.95
Large (9.6 qts) $24.95

Learn more »

Compost Swift Activator

Use this non-toxic and concentrated activator to speed the activity of aerobic bacteria in any backyard composter. Dilute one part activator with 8 parts water, then mix into materials to be composted.

32 ounces $19.95

Learn more »

Organic Seeds from Fedco

Grow your own organic garden with MOFGA certified organic seeds from Fedco Seeds. We have more than 50 varieties of their most popular vegetables, herbs and flowers, all heirloom and certified organic. It's time to start putting seeds in the ground!

Organic Seeds Packet $1.95

Learn more »

Last seed reorder May 29. We'll be placing reorders for our seed display until Friday, May 29. If we don't have what you want in stock, we may be able to special order organic seed for you from Fedco.

Worm Castings

Have you tried adding worm castings to your seed starting mix? If you have, you know what an incredible head start these give your little plants! For ensuring plant health and vigor naturally, nothing beats worm castings.

One pound $1.25

Learn more »

Kitchen Compost Pail - Stainless Steel

Do you compost? Our stainless steel compost pail is a stylish way to collect your food scraps for the compost pile or bin. Beautiful enough to leave on the kitchen counter. Easy to carry and clean. Carbon filters in lid contain odors. Replacement filters available. Holds about a gallon.

Pail and filters $34.95

Learn more »

Top Bar Beekeeping

Gold Star Honeybees will present "How and Why to Keep Bees in Top Bar Beehives," a beekeeping discussion and demonstration, at F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods and Supplies, 56 Maine Street, Brunswick on Thursday, May 14 at 7 pm. The event is free and open to the public. Both experienced beekeepers and "wannabee" beekeepers are encouraged to attend.

"It's not about the honey, Honey," says Christy Hemenway, founder of Gold Star Honeybees in Bath, Maine. "It's about the bees!"

Top Bar beekeeping is a simple, bee-friendly, beekeeper-friendly, planet-friendly, and sustainable way of stewarding one of our most important pollinators. Christy Hemenway, founder of Gold Star Honeybees, will discuss the simplicity of working a Top Bar Beehive and the advantages of this method of beekeeping.

Gold Star Honeybees manufactures a kit to build your own Top Bar Beehive using the most environmentally friendly components available. Gold Star Honeybees also offers a Beekeeping Service for folks who like the idea of having bees on their property, but are not able to dedicate the time and energy it requires to keep bees. For more information about the kit and beekeping service, visit www.GoldStarHoneybees.com or call 207-449-1121.

The demonstration on Thursday will take place inside, featuring an empty kit without the actual bees. Space is limited, so those interested in attending are encouraged to call the store at 729-4050 to reserve a seat.

This event is part of the F.W. Horch series on sustainable living. Each monthly event is held at the F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods & Supplies store, 56 Maine Street, Brunswick on the second Thursday of the month.

For more information about the F.W. Horch sustainable living series, please call 729-4050 or visit www.FWHorch.com.