The event served as a kick-off for a community garden at a non-profit medical center. As you can see, the garden is coming right along. We got to inspect the rows of lettuce, marvel at the beautiful chard.

IFFS Farm Director Sun Butler gave a worm-bin demonstration. And graduates of the organization’s culinary job training program, provided the evening’s refreshments.

Allen’s talk followed, and it was inspiring to see what can be done on 3 acres of Milwaukee land. Row crops, potted plants, aquaculture, composting, vermiculture, solar energy, anaerobic digestion…it boggles a food waste blogger’s mind.

It’s all about the soil, Allen stressed. He talked a whole lot about composting and using worms to create compost tea. The guy clearly loves his worms, which he called “our livestock.” While Allen began with 30 pounds of red wigglers, his brood now weighs 30,000!

And you can’t have that many worms without something to feed them. Allen said that Growing Power accepted 10 million pounds of food waste in 2009 to compost, with and without worms. Yet, he called that a “drop in the bucket in a city like Milwaukee.” That’s a big bucket.

A: Irish worm composting.

The latter is slightly greener, as worms break down organics quicker than regular composting. Even more heartening, though, is the mandatory separation of food waste for large-scale food producers. The legislation took effect on January 1 and impacts restaurants, supermarkets and anyone producing more than 50 kg (110 lbs) of waste per week.

Of course, in accordance with the “reduce, reuse, recycle” trinity–reducing food waste would out-green all of the above–but I didn’t find anything on that online.

I did find that Tir na nOg, an Irish pub in Raleigh, touts its composting on its site. I wish more restaurants would do so–both compost and publicize it.

Back to Irish Worms, they’re the first vermiculture operation I’ve seen that also sells live bait. I suppose this makes sense in a ‘Cycle of Life’ way. But probably not to people opposed to eating fish.

Regardless, I can’t imagine anyone being against green beer. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, folks.

Well, here’s the latest idea brewing in the Rose City: a collectively-operated worm composting operation. Yes, a Portland wormery.

Now, this is far from a reality. It’s currently a vision of Randy White, founder of Bright Neighbor, a community social networking site. But I love that the idea of sending food waste to a central wormery is being discussed in Portland.

I’d probably choose an anaerobic digestion plant over a wormery, but since the city hasn’t been able to find a site for a compost operation after years of searching, the odds are much better for a humble, humming vermiculture collective. It’d be much cheaper, too.
Whether or not his idea comes to fruition, we should thank White for bringing us this quote of gold, on the nutrient-rich nature of worm “casings.”

“They poop out treasure,” he said. “We need a more eco-friendly market substitute to replace petroleum-based fertilizer.”

Nuff said.

Yes, keeping food packaging from the landfill is a noble cause. But, I would argue, not as noble as preventing its contents from the same fate.

The piece discusses composting a bit, including an impressive level of separation (worm-friendly vs. hog-centric foods) in Duluth, Minn. But there’s no talk of reducing the amount of food wasted.

Why is that? My sense is that composting is an easy change. It doesn’t ask much of us, other than an extra step or two at the bin. Reducing waste can be a bit harder. What’s your take?

As an example, the article covers the composting of empty milk cartons lining the trash, but doesn’t talk about the full ones mixed into the bin.

And there’s almost always milk wasted. The USDA requires that all kids on the National School Lunch Program take a milk–even if kids say they’re not going to drink it. Oh, and the same policy exists for the entree, too.

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Good to see the (tennis) U.S. Open is composting the food scraps from its central kitchens, but why not have composting bins on the concourse for fans? We’ll call it deuce.

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Fuel from beer, wine and tequila waste? We’re one step closer to the Mr. Fusion becoming a reality. Guess that makes sense because Doc Brown had the contraption on his DeLorean when returning from 2015, which, scarily, isn’t too far off. 

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It must be around Labor Day if there’s talk of traylessness. Yale’s Commons Dining Hall is experimenting with going trayless by trying it on a week-to-week basis. BUT, Yale won’t remove trays from residential dining halls because the increased trips would cause “congestion.” Heaven forbid!

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Here’s a bit more info about Costco composting, which I wrote about on Wednesday. While headed in the right direction, they’re only separating organics at a few California stores. The best part is that the food scraps are sent to a worm composter, whose wigglers create a fertilizer sold in some Costco locations.

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A Notre Dame student plans to start a composting program. And not a moment too soon, as the average Golden Dome diner wastes more than a quarter pound (5.03 ounces) per meal.

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While things are looking up for Notre Dame’s Irish, The actual Irish could do better. Ireland’s food waste increased 5 percent in 2007.

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A new initiative at the British site Love Food, Hate Waste highlights “food lovers.” Neat stuff, but come on, lads. Are we to conclude that no blokes love food enough to ensure it doesn’t go to waste?

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Leftovers: source of marital discord? Oy vey.

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It’s neat that ninth graders in Kent, Conn., are collecting and weighing food waste. But rewarding the table with the least waste without addressing portion size could prompt overeating. Like the “clean your plate” ethic, it’s tricky stuff.