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Reuse and recycle is taking on a whole new meaning at Casa de las Campanas where a new composting program has grabbed the attention and a little bit of help from a local television personality.
Loren Nancarrow, a San Diego FOX-Channel 5 newscaster, recently teamed up with the Casa de las Campanas community to help establish a worm farm for composting kitchen waste.
Each day 80 pounds of worms eat through coffee grinds and filter paper from the brewed coffee, trimmings from fresh fruit and vegetables, egg shells and paper cartons and shredded paper. After the number of worms has doubled in size, the result will be about 100 pounds of compost daily.
Mr. Nancarrow is offering his expertise in composting and is following the development of the program, said Mr. Jamie Gerkowski, Casa de las Campanas food and beverage director.
"When we realized how much compost would be generated, we wondered what we were going to do with so much of it," Mr. Gerkowski said. "Mr. Nancarrow suggested that we seek a partnership with a farmer who could use the rich fertilizer."
A few telephone calls later, Mr. Gerkowski found San Pasqual Academy in Escondido, which operates a 26-acre certified organic field and sells its produce locally.
"The academy was interested in trading compost for fresh vegetables. We were delighted," he said. "I can see some great things happening between Casa de las Campanas and San Pasqual, including some very special field trips."
The Casa de las Campanas Foundation has been generous with its support of the program and financed the commercial size worm bin needed to handle the daily food waste. In turn, the community expects to save $1,800 a year in disposal fees.
"What I think is so neat is that our composted trimmings are returned to the Casa de las Campanas community as delicious produce to enjoy," said Director of Marketing Marge Pronovost. "This is the ultimate in what it means to be environmentally friendly."
The topic of soil may not be exciting but without good soil the ability to grow healthy food is lost, Mr. Nancarrow said.
"Our soil is in sorry shape after decades of chemical farming. The ground beneath our feet needs all the organic material we can generate added to it," he explained.
Casa's willingness to keep food waste out of the landfill by using earthworms for composting may seem like a small act, but what it represents is very large.
"The residents of Casa de las Campanas are pioneers in helping to show the rest of the region how a small act can have a big impact," Mr. Nancarrow said. "I love telling their story every chance I get."
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