Dr. Elaine Ingham of Soil Food Web Inc., Edwin Sittler of Sittler Manufacturing and John Montague of The Glen Road Organics, three pioneers of thermophilic composting.
GRO Conference with Dr. Elaine Ingham
August 23 & 24th 2024
This August we had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Elaine Ingham from The Soil Food Web Inc. here at the farm for a two day soil conference.
The first day we hosted a presentation and workshop were participants were able to ask questions about practically applying The Soil Food Web principals on farms.
We also touched on the basics of thermophilic composting to set up for our compost workshop the next day.
Lunch was provided from a local caterer using fresh ingredients from our own fields as well as local farms.
It was a great afternoon to have so many like minded individuals connecting and learning from each other about biological growing.
Thermophilic Compost Workshop
On a bright and early Saturday morning we gathered at the home farm for a full day compost workshop.
We were able to all pitch in and make a small thermal pile that is suitable for market gardens or small scale gardens. We used ingredients from on the farm as well as spent flower bouquets, garden waste, old straw and manure for the pile.
We built this pile by hand so everyone could experience the hands-on aspect of composting.
The pile temperatures were monitored and shared on social media after the conference to show the full process of small pile composting. We even turned the pile by hand on the first turn to illustrate how quick and easy the process really is.
The remainder of the day was spent with a farm tour to demonstrate our on farm practices for biological farming, and a compost windrow production.
Participants were able to see the process of converting an old compacted compost deck into a hay field, our current hay fields as well as touring our small market garden space.
We made a short windrow to demonstrate larger scale compost production in windrows. Using roughly the same inputs as the small thermal pile we made a short windrow, participants were able to watch the turning process and see and feel how the row is mixed through the process.
The Glen Road Organics would like to thank all the participants who came out to the Friday presentations and the Saturday workshop, your participation is what made the conference memorable for all.
As always if you have any questions or concerns feel free to reach out to us. In the meantime keep an eye out for our next compost workshop next summer!
Comments