Crunch Time (And not for my abs)

Hi Everyone:) I hope all is well. This past week, Cincinnati was bathed in smog from the Canadian Wildfires. After years of associating the foggy, grey haze with wildfires in the Western US or densely population cities like Beijing, it was surprising to see the smokey air in my own backyard. Though dawning a mask to work outside safely felt slightly apocalyptic, we were lucky to only be affected for a few days. The reminder of how connected we and our environments are did not escape me.

In June, we composted 1491 lbs.

Besides taking off a few days due to the air pollution, June has felt like nonstop work. It's been a huge push month as I've tried to get the new system up and running (without my neighbors hating me too much). This includes building a rotary composter, which will hot compost and turn the the food scraps..at least when I get it working...the "automated" part still has a ways to go. Though I wanted so desperately to finish it by June, I've learned that setbacks are unavoidable. For now, I've added food waste and have been turning it by hand. It makes fixing the composter more difficult, but the food scraps keep coming in and they have to go somewhere.

I've also been constructing what I've nicknamed "Worm Towers" out of the excess culvert pipe. (Let me know if you can think of a better name). They also need some tweaking, but are almost finished. Pre-composted food is shoveled into the top and, although, it is hard to tell from the pictures, there is a grated bottom that the worm castings can fall through. 

My hope is to have everything in working order by the end of July, in time for my fellowship. Though the likelihood of that is questionable, the best I can do is try. Wish me luck!

Fun Fact: Earthworms have about 100-150 segments made of muscles and bristles. The earthworm use segments to either contract or relax independently to cause the body to lengthen in one area or contract in other areas.