Some excitement has been surrounding the compost heaps as of late. The Starbucks’ of Tampa International Airport, just around the corner from the farm, have begun dropping off their used coffee grounds to add to our compost piles. This is awesome for the creation of our compost since coffee grounds are high in nitrogen as well as being PH neutral (of course prior to brewing they are very acidic). The second stellar thing about this deal is it takes the coffee grounds out of the waste stream where they would be shuffled off to a distant landfill.
The main component of what we use to make our compost is Lowry Park Zoo manure or “zoo poo.” After we receive a new batch of manure and coffee grounds, we make a new compost pile. As we use an aerobic compost method, we turn the piles regularly to reintroduce oxygen and carbon dioxide to the microbes that turn “waste” like manure and coffee grounds into beneficial compost!
Mark your calendar and bring your composting questions to our Spring Garden Workshop on Saturday, March 1st with Sweetwater’s Founder, Rick Martinez.
See you at the Farm!