On July 22 Wilson College will host a free on-farm composting workshop from 10 a.m. to 12 noon entitled, “Farm-Scale Composting of Food Waste & Manures.”

Demonstrations and discussions will emphasize composting of food waste and manures on a medium and large scale, featuring a demonstration of the system used by Wilson College to collect and process food waste from the college dining hall into a useful soil amendment.

Compost testing, worm composting and garden-scale composting principles will be covered, as well as grant opportunities available through the Department of Environmental Protection.

Examples of various compostable foodservice utensils and containers will also be displayed. This workshop should be applicable to farmers, livestock managers, stable managers, institutional facilities personnel, gardeners, or anyone else who has an interest in recycling organic wastes.

In 2004, Wilson College was awarded a Compost Infrastructure Grant from the DEP Organics Recycling program. Grant money was used to purchase equipment to facilitate labor efficient food waste composting.

Since that time, the Wilson College foodwaste composting program has diverted over 15,000 pounds of food waste from landfills per year. Horse manure compost from the college 70-horse stables is sold to local large scale organic farmers.

The workshop is free and open to the public. Please register by July 19 by contacting Matt Steiman, 717-264-4141 ext. 3247 or sending email to: msteiman@wilson.edu .

7/14/2006