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Families
Ready to Embark on Eco-Challenge
By Darci
Clark – For the Sun
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Last
month I introduced readers of the Sunday Sun to a new environmental
venture in our community called Compost Quest.
In case you missed it, I described it as a monthly adventure
in reality reading, whereby this column will follow two local
families – one urban and one rural – as they learn
to incorporate backyard composting into their busy lives. Our
goal is to show how average Westman households can be turned
green with little disruption to routine and a bit of support
from those in the know.
This ‘real-life’ composting journal is part of a
larger Westman community action project called “Composting
101”. This project features a unique working
partnership – public and private – seeking to promote
the economic and environmental benefits of backyard composting
in our community. Composting 101 is also working
with classes in the Brandon School Division, through hands-on
presentations and educational strategies, to establish an enviro-friendly
curriculum that can be expanded to include all aspects of the
3R’s. Through our experiments with vermicomposting
– that’s using special worms to break down kitchen
waste, in layperson’s terms – in the classrooms,
we found two sporting families willing to have us look over
their shoulders for the upcoming year as they learn to backyard
compost.
 Because
we decided to keep the identities confidential for now, local
artist Curt Shoultz was commissioned to compose a cartoon version
of each family in their backyard as a fun way of introduction.
They may be your neighbors, so look closely! A hint is that
the rural family comes from Meadows School and the urban family
from Linden Lanes School.
In closing, I would like to offer some comments from our families...
The 8-year-old boy from our town family declared, “
I think it will be fun and good for the environment. When we
are done, I’m going to give some to my Grandpa cause he
loves plants!” The Grade 5 girl from our farm family
thinks, “ It will be a fun experiment and I guess
I will do the work for it. The weekend at the Victoria Inn (as
thanks for a year in the eco spotlight) will be great!”
Her 13-year-old brother wonders how it will be different from
what they do now and stated, “ It will sure help our
plants, but I hope our rabbit doesn’t mind!”
Our farm Mom hopes to see that it really is simple and beneficial,
while Dad emphasizes that is going to be a job for the offspring
as hands-on managers. Neither set of parents has much knowledge
about composting, but, in the words of our town Mom and Dad
team, they are “…willing to give it a try in
the spirit of family fun and learning.”
Stay tuned next month for an interview covering how the families
set up their backyard composters, along with some more candid
thoughts about their seasonal journey.
For more information on all types of composting, or a copy of
last month’s article, call us at 725-9234 or 727-5675.
Composting 101 provides presentations, demonstration
workshops and educational material to help make backyard composting
second nature.
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