Our Community Composting site consists of a composting greenhouse housing eight Johnson-Su Bioreactors that can break down inputs and sustain microbial life year-round. The Johnson-Su composting method creates compost teeming with microorganisms that improve soil health and plant growth and increase the soil’s potential to sequester carbon. This simple composting method produces a biologically enhanced compost by creating an environment where beneficial soil microorganisms thrive and multiply. When this biologically alive compost is applied to the soil, the microorganisms inoculate the soil and work in harmony with growing plants to improve soil health and increase the amount of carbon drawn out of the atmosphere and into the soil.
If you are curious to learn more about Johnson-Su Bioreactors, you can attend one of our annual Composting Workshops and read further at this NMSU resource.
For additional nutrient inputs to our garden beds, we also have static aerated compost piles. These piles are composed of a mix of wood chips and manure and are kept oxygenated via an input of air through PVC pipes.
Our composting facilities are a staple of our educational programs. Students and interns apply chemistry, physics, and biology lessons as they assemble bioreactors and collect data on decomposition rates and temperature curves.
FOOD SCRAP DROP-OFF
We’re now accepting donations of food scraps. Donations will be put to good use as inputs to our Johnson-Su Bioreactors. Leave your food scraps with us for donation to our educational composting facilities, where they will help to build beneficial microbial communities for our soils.
How does it work?
We have 5-gallon buckets available for participants. You can take home a bucket, fill it with food scraps, then drop it off with us when it’s full and grab another available bucket to take home. We ask that you adhere to the following restrictions on food scrap donations:
YES: Fruits & veggies, rinds, coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells
NO: Dairy, meat (dogs will eat it), cat or dog poo, weeds, fats/grease, citrus
NO: “Decompostable” plastic bags
VOLUNTEERS
Our incredible team of volunteers keep our composting site active and help to process all our donated food scraps. We could not do it without them! Visit our Volunteer page to learn how to get involved yourself.