Your funding has helped us initiate the community composting project and we are at a great start! We were able to connect with multiple partners to also make it a success. We partnered with Waste Management in Phoenix, AZ to acquire 10 of their 30 gallon green trash bins to take to local businesses for their food waste including a Early Vegan restaurant, a school of 300 students, and another restaurant. We also connected with a local sprout growing company called AZ Microgreens to pickup weekly sprouts they throw outback to decompose. This feeds the ducks and chickens so we don't have to purchase feed. What the animals leave behind goes into the compost. Weekly this is about 25-50 lbs alone just in sprout waste. We also have connected with local companies to get their cardboard boxes, including a local school, food pantry and Costco in addition to households bringing in their cardboard. With the funding you provided we were able to purchase two 18-page micro-shredders which have slots large enough for most cardboard. This usually gets us about 28 lbs of shredded cardboard into a 50 gallon trash bag. There were times we were bringing about 2-3 bags of this, equaling about 84 lbs. Cardboard is a huge secrete to compost as it mimics a sponge absorbing ability and is corrugated. Any cardboard thicker than this is used as sides within a compost bin. What this does is it reduces evaporation from the outer sides of the compost bin in addition to increasing microbes and breaking the cardboard over time. We took all our numbers for cardboard, food waste, yard trimmings, and shredded paper and averaged over six months to be over 481 lbs per month we are diverting from the landfill back into the ecosystem through its natural decomposition with the help of human beings, animals and microbes. What many don't think about is how animals and microbes play a huge part. Let's take ducks for example. In a picture I am sharing you will see there is shredded paper around their play pool. They splash a lot of water onto the shredded paper. Then they peck into the wet material with their bills and do a "wine press" with their feet. This is how the smell of ducks play area is kept down by the carbon in the paper as well as their ammonia in the water acts as a nitrogen their carbon in the paper. Decomposition in the shredded happens at a fast rate. Chickens use the shredded paper as a nesting area. They poo and this creates spacing within the shredded paper. Underneath where they roost, shredded paper is also added. Quickly spacing is naturally created within the shredded paper. After this spacing is created, the shredded paper is able to move to the compost bin. A funny story was to find a dip in the compost as some cardboard folded over, a duck took advantage of this and laid eggs within the shredded corrugated cardboard. We have over 30 people actively bringing in food waste weekly. There are over 6 local business contributing food waste materials.

Friday, April 9th we had our official community composting event with about 39 attendees! Each mini-project of the community composting project had a community lead. The compost mini-projects included creating a Hugelkultur composting garden (Lead Larissa Cameron), a worm composting bin reusing a bathtub (Lead Haley Phillips), a Soil Breathing Dragon compost bin (Leads Amy Simpson & Brandon Bates), a layered composting concept bin (Lead Madison Harris), and finally building an enclosed chicken fencing (Lead Laurel Mason Johnston) which contains both the Soil Breathing Dragon and layered composting. The compost bins were purposely designed to be enclosed within the chicken coop area to replicate a natural ecosystem. Animals in a forest naturally stir things on the ground looking for food including bugs and such.

The next steps include designing a method to record how much food scraps, shredded cardboard and shredded mulch are added to the composting stations and how much compost is created. There could be more to record.

I attached a few photos but unfortunately I could not be in all of the places as they were going on.

Thank you to all of you who could make it tonight. I know some of you could not and that is completely understandable. After connecting through zoom tonight, Leads were assigned to project stations:
1. Main fencing project around the chickens and compost area – Laurel
2. Poultry netting to be installed onto existing property line fencing where chickens are – Ali & Brandon
3. Mixes layer composting station (125-160 F) – Madison
4. Fire Breathing Dragon station (160-170 F) – Amy?
5. Worm composting station (60-80 F) – Haley & ?
6. Hugelkulture station (70-80 F) – Haley & ?

Availability days

• Ali – Tuesdays & Fridays
• Madison – Fridays (poss. Saturdays)
• Laurel – Fridays
• Haley – Tuesdays & Fridays (poss. Saturdays)
• Carol – Tuesdays & Fridays (poss. Saturdays)
• Larissa Cameron -
• Elizabeth Damiano –
• Renee Hamill -

Carol will float during the project and can be called by the Leads to assist. Leads can text Carol xxx-xxx-xxxx during the project for immediate questions or assistance.

Some were not able to make it and we can place them where they might suggest works best for them. They can also be floaters to assist where needed.

Above all – everyone plays an intricate part in making this a success! You are awesome!!!!

Please, if there is any confusion – call me directly xxx-xxx-xxxx.

1. Repair existing property line fencing (South and West side) for compost and chickens.
2. Replace existing fencing (East and North) for compost and chickens.
3. Create alternating carbon/nitrogen compost system (125-160 F)
4. Create Fire Breathing Dragon compost system ((160-170 F)
5. Create Worm Composting system (60-80 F)
6. Create Hugelkultur natural composting system (70-80 F)
7. Composting Containers - Add labels to trash bin collection containers and 5-gallon bucket containers with project name, contact information and address.
8. Create a table with hand-washing and sanitation measures.