By Donna Westfall – January 27, 2018 –
I’ve been a gardener my entire adult life having started when Hector was a pup. Being an organic gardener means starting with great ingredients which means building up healthy soil. I’ve been an entrepreneur almost as long as being a gardener. Building businesses takes planning, work and energy. But first, it helps to be doing something you love.
Veterans who come back home oftentimes have a problem finding a job. In the state of Maryland, Justen Garrity began a Veterans for Compost business. His tag line is “combat to compost.” His story. He was an explosives expert. Not a lot of jobs for that back in the states.
He makes organic compost as well as worm compost.
What could be a better mix than having a busisness using food scraps, cardboard and wood chips at a facility like Hambro or Solid Waste instead of putting it in the landfield. The trick is in getting clean ingredients. Institutions like schools and supermarkets have to be trained in order to keep plastic from contaminating the compost.
When you mix the appropriate amount of carbon with the appropriate amount of nitrogen, you get great compost. Carbon comes from wood chips and nitrogen comes from food scraps. About three parts of wood chips to one part of food scraps.
Wouldn’t you like to see a new business like this in town started by veterans and employing veterans?
This is a great idea! Hambro is in the soil business now and wants to make compost but they lack the money for the expensive equipment needed to make high quality aerobic compost on a big scale. It would be worth the investment!