A Critterproof composter comes to Common Good City Farm

Although the colder weather means that Common Good City Farm isn’t growing vegetables, the farm is growing in different and exciting ways. If you’ve walked by LeDroit Park these past few weeks, you may have noticed a new structure on the farm. This past December, we installed new composter bins to help us more effectively create high quality compost from community garden and food waste for growing our crops. The new composter is a raised off the ground to enable efficient drainage and aeration, as well as sided with fencing to prevent rats and other ‘critters’ from accessing food waste. The composting bins were built in partnership with the DC Department of Parks and Recreation’s Community Compost Cooperative Network, which seeks to create a total of 27 compost bins in DPR gardens across the district. So far, over 20 compost bins have been built, with the remaining systems predicted to be completed this spring. To date, Common Good City Farm is the first production farm to pilot this innovative design. The blueprints for the bin, designed in conjunction with Eriks Brolis of memeTree Social Enterprise Consultants, will be soon be available to the public. As a designated Compost Manager with the cooperative, we have been entrusted to ensure quality control and coordinate with community members to properly manage the system. Please check our list here to learn what can/can not be composted, as well as to learn more about our composting systems. As always, we are accepting approved compost materials!