Katrina Wolff from Blue Borage Ltd will show us an 80 year old method of using common herbs and flowers to make a compost activator which is effective in minimising the odour of composting food scraps, while speeding up the process. It's using the same plants as the biodynamic compost preparations but is so simple that even children could be making this.

Miraculous!

She's taking this work to the International Biodynamic Research Conference in England in September, so we'll be getting a sneak peek of her presentation to biodynamic research colleagues from all over the world.

Time permitting, we'll be using the method on the following types of composting:

- worm farms for food scraps

- hot compost piles

It has also proven to be effective with humanure composting, mortality composting (with a dead chicken midsummer), composting in small containers, as well as improving seedling growth.

If you are intrigued by the concept and want to jump in straight away, then go find her on Substack at 'The Flower Project', where together with Kate Haming Panchal in Canada she is sharing frequent voice notes as mini podcasts and hosts weekly compost coaching calls.

Other advantages of learning to compost this way:

no need to worry about smelly food scrap buckets
no need to worry about food scraps going to landfill
no need to pay anyone to handle your rubbish
cancel your garden waste collections
stop buying soil in single use plastic at the garden centre
join the growing movement of people creating a 'closed loop' circular system in their gardens, making healthy soil to grow healthy food, thereby saving money at the supermarket.

It's a win-win-win-win sort of solution, and so easy to get started.

Thanks to Carbon Cycle Composting for sponsorship of this event. Participants at this workshop will get a coupon for the online course 'Closing the Loop: the Art of Composting'

What to bring:

- Please wear covered shoes or gumboots.

- We'll be outside, so please dress appropriately.

- We probably won't go ahead if there's heavy rain - we'll send an email and text on the morning if we need to postpone.

- The workshop time will include a shared lunch. A great opportunity to continue to learn from Katrina and also our fellow attendees. Please bring something to share or, if you have specific dietary requirements, feel free to bring something that will suit your needs.