Adirondack Black Gold

No, I’m not talking about oil. (And it’s hard to think of oil as being something wonderful right now, even though we certainly can’t seem to get along without lots of it.)

Green Circle Compost Bucket

 Nope, I mean compost. The magical, rich, valuable product of the hard-working little guys who keep the planet from being buried miles thick in orange peels, tree trunks, and oak leaves. That rich, fragrant humus in the forest is really just compost. Most of the time, most of us don’t pay much attention to what goes on in that other universe.

You might think that only people with huge gardens and loads of yard space collect their fruit peels, soggy left-over salads, coffee grounds, and oak leaves (most gardeners don’t throw in meat scraps) to pile up in a heap in some far corner of the property and coddle it along into the glorious stuff that replenishes the soil around the tomato plants. However, there is no trick to making compost, even on a small village lot. Master Gardeners trained by Cornell Cooperative Extension are standing by most Saturdays at the Saranac Lake Farmer’s’ Market to give out loads of information about composting.

When you make compost, not only do you end up with a wonderful soil additive for your flowers and vegetables but it keeps a lot of heavy, bulky stuff out of your trash can. When you pay for garbage disposal by either weight or volume, this can save you money and will also reduce the community’s waste stream.

In any case, saving compostable garbage isn’t practical for everyone, but now some of those folks in Saranac Lake are keeping all that wet, heavy, and valuable garbage out of their trash cans and donating it where it will do some good. The Adirondack Green Circle is providing 5 gallon compost buckets to people who take it to the Saturday Farmers’ Market full their debris and give to farmers who take it back to the farm to add to their own composting operations. The compost donor takes home a clean bucket for the coming week’s fruit and vegetable waste, and a cycle has been started. Good for every one and for the environment.

In some communities, compostable garbage is collected from restaurants and grocery stores. It can save businesses a lot of money to reduce the amount of garbage that most be hauled to the land fill. This material is processed to make compost that can then be sold to make the collectors a profit. Any visionary Adirondack entrepreneurs out there?!