COMPOSTING AT THE SOLANO COUNTY FAIR

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NOT WASTING AWAY AT THE SOLANO COUNTY FAIR
by JANE BOGNER
SUNDAY, July 13, 2003

If you missed our Spring backyard composting workshops, you should come to the Solano County Fair (July 11-20). Every day at 4:00 p.m. there will be a free workshop. Gardeners will receive a free composting book and one lucky Solano County resident will win a backyard composting bin.

This year fair goers will find us in the new Urban Garden. The fair staff has spent the spring building raised beds, planting and transforming the old farm area into a demonstration garden for homeowners. The Urban Garden is located on the south edge of the fairgrounds between the carnival and racetrack. There will be a free shuttle train from the fair’s main street to the Urban Garden.

On Thursday, before the fair opens, a compost bin will be filled with yard and kitchen waste. This “hot” bin will produce finished compost by the end of the fair. An earthworm bin and compost crops will finish the exhibit.

Composting classes will cover the four basics of composting: carbon, nitrogen, air and water. Participants will learn how to make fast compost or just be lazy and let it happen. This year’s teachers include Rita LeRoy, Myrna Hayes, Genie Kaggerud and Jane Bogner from Vallejo; Cheryl Bond from Fairfield and Leslie Smith from Vacaville.

Ten gardeners from Vallejo and Benicia have spent the spring planting seeds and tending 30 compost crops. Compost crops are an easy, organic way to grow and feed your soil when you are not using your garden. Compost crops can improve soil structure by keeping nutrients from leaching beyond the reach of the next crop.

This year the crops were grown in the Perfect Pot, a recycled plastic pot made by a company in Redway. Many thanks to CCL Organics in Benicia for donating the soil and compost for this project and to the volunteer growers: Wanda Anderson, Gail Burch, Donna Chamberlin, Sandy Diehl, Myrna Hayes, Genie Kaggerud, Rita LeRoy, Phyllis Manoogian, Nancy McCoy, and Don Richwine.

This is the ninth year that VALCORE Recycling has installed the backyard composting exhibit. It is funded by the Solano County Local Task Force for Integrated Waste Management.

Many classes will be held at the Urban Garden each day. Vallejo Sanitation and Flood Control District (VSFCD) is covering three different topics: Gardening with less-toxic pesticides conducted by Annie Joseph, a California Certified Nursery Professional; Good Bugs, Bad Bugs with Loma Vista Farm teacher Rita LeRoy; and Urban Run-off with Fern Wilson, VSFCD Environmental Education Coordinator. Check out the fair schedule for times. Home Depot will also be there with classes on irrigation and building a backyard pond.

WHAT CAN YOU RECYCLE IN SOLANO COUNTY?
Stop by McCormick Hall to see “A Sorted Affair”. This year, our exhibit features materials that you can recycle in the Solano County. We will include information on how and where to recycle motor oil and other hazardous waste within the county.

VALCORE Recycling Vice President Jane Bogner's "A Sorted Affair" is published every other week in the Times-Herald, Community Outlook Section. For recycling information call Genie Kaggerud, VALCORE Recycling Manager at 645-8258 or visit www.VALCORErecycling.org.