Plano Community Garden: Plot Adoptions Now Available  By Jan Eppard

Have you always wanted to grow your own produce? Do you need a garden mentor? Have you been looking for a way to give back to your community?

The mission of Plano Community Garden is to "collaborate with community volunteers to donate harvested produce to local food pantries." Since 2005, local food pantries received 12,000 pounds of organically grown produce through the garden.

The garden operates as a teaching facility to address environmental concerns. Volunteers learn about improving soil fertility through composting, water conservation, and recycling. By encouraging "green gardening" practices like rainwater harvesting and integrated pest management, we have re-established a natural wildlife area on an empty acreage previously used for parking heavy equipment and vehicles.

The garden also provides cross-cultural and inter-generational connections by engaging volunteers from different backgrounds and cultures. By working together to care for the garden, youth, teens and adults have built a service-oriented community developing life-skills and personal relationships.

For information about the garden or if you would like to adopt a plot, please contact Erin Hoffer:

Plano Community Garden                      Phone: 972-769-4228

C/o 4200 W. Plano Parkway                   Fax: 972-769-4219

Plano, TX 75093                                   Attn: Erin Hoffer 

Creative Food Waste Composting by Tanis Roelofs

Note: Tanis Roelofs was so impressed with the ease of composting her food waste with a backyard bio-Digester!   She wanted to share her experience with you.

Composting food waste in a Bio-Digester is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

• Buy a 6-gallon galvanized steel pail with lid.
• Drill 12-15 quarter-inch holes in the bottom of the pail.
• Dig a hole a little larger than the circumference of the pail to a depth half the length of the pail.
• Place the pail in the hole and fill in gaps with soil. Be sure the bottom of the pail comes in full contact with the soil.
• Sprinkle about 1 inch of soil or dried, crumbled leaves onto the bottom of the pail.

You are now ready to put food waste such as fruit and vegetable scraps in your Bio Digester. Do not add meat, oil or dairy products. Cover each layer of food with dried leaves or soil. The worms in your soil will help the food decompose and leave castings for your garden!

Bring Bokashi to Your Backyard

By Jan Eppard

Note: Jan Eppard learned about bokashi at the Sustainability Fair in Fredericksburg. For several years she has been perfecting bokashi procedures in her backyard.

"Bokashi" is a Japanese term meaning "fermented organic matter." In bokashi composting, an "EM Inoculant" is sprinkled over food waste in an airtight container. EM inoculant is an inert carrier, such as rice hulls, wheat bran or saw dust, infused with effective micro-organisms or EM. The EM are natural lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and phototrophic bacteria that act as a microbe community within the kitchen scraps, fermenting and accelerating breakdown of the organic matter. Once the fermentation is complete, the compost can be buried, placed in a modified compost pile or put into the bio-digester to complete its decomposition. The end product is rich, dark compost, ready for the garden.

• Who: Everyone can do it. It is simple to do and can be done in a home or an apartment.
• What: Bokashi is an anaerobic fermentation process, resulting in a much different end product than that produced via composting. Many people like bokashi because it is very easy, and generally free of bad odors. All that is needed is a bucket (with lid), some special bokashi mix, and organic waste.
• When: Just collect your food waste and throw in the bokashi bucket with bokashi mix (bran/sawdust inoculated with microorganisms). You'll have results in two to four weeks.

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