By Dr. Ernie Harbott, Compost Culture

At the start of 2022, I was looking to make the Facebook Group I’d started six months prior, Soil Sisters Singleton, more effective. I wanted to connect like-minded locals and I wanted to inspire them to act. I wanted to get people composting!

Composting is an achievable and rewarding hobby that really has an impact. Apart from all the extraordinary things compost does for the soil, it’s one thing every one of us can do to feel like we’re actually making a difference. When we compost, we are keeping resources out of landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Composting directly benefits our health by getting us outdoors and exercising. It increases the quality of home grown produce in a free and natural way. But it also contributes to our social wellbeing. Composting creates community.

Although the assisted decomposition of organic waste is a simple idea, not everyone feels confident enough to have a go. Composting is complicated by confusion over carbon to nitrogen ratios, what is considered a “brown” and a “green”, what “can” and “can’t” be composted, what drives the composting process, and the microscopic community we can’t see but trust in to play their part. This uncertainty creates an opportunity for connection. Education provides a connection between those with expertise and experience and those without.

A common passion creates connection between one composter and another. A circular economy arises from connection between those with resources and those who can process them. Community evolves when the connections between those individuals are made.

I decided on a local café and picked a time I thought might work best for everyone. For the first couple of months, it was just me and my kids. Then I begged my compost competent friends to come along to keep me company. Slowly, compost curious folk and community minded comrades joined us. And the kind of people who are keen to compost (or at least meet with other people and talk about it) has been varied and surprising. Although we have people of all ages attend, many of us are older and our main motivation for composting is because we want to eat better and feed our families well. This has inspired conversation around growing our own food, linking our diet to our health, and the food system. We often start with an unintentional roundtable of what’s growing (or not growing so well) in our own gardens and an exchange of gardening advice and recipe suggestions. What I love most is when our composting companions share their out of the box ideas and the experiments they’re trying for the first time.

Quite often there is homegrown produce, seeds and compost feedstocks to swap. There is always compost to swap so everyone can inoculate their compost pile with more microbes.

And sometimes, when one of us is having a hard time of it, we are there to dig over their troubles with them and compost their concerns. Afterall, the key to good compost is a balance of inputs, airing it, and a community working together. In the past, we’ve changed the venue each year to support different local business. This year, we won’t be changing the venue as it seems to be the most forgiving café in Singleton. There’s always a spot outside on the deck where we can fit everyone who turns up, including their dog. Outside, our jars and baggies of homemade compost are less likely to offend, and we have a good view of the playground. We meet on the first Saturday of each month, and it always seems to come around so quickly. Occasionally I change the date if our gathering clashes with events in town. But if I’m ever absent, my always reliable compost apprentice Jim, steps in and makes everyone feel welcome. If I am ever absent, you know there’ll be a great story for the next gathering.

When people engage with others who share common goals or pursuits, such as Permaculture at the Pub, Coffee & Compost and community gardening, they feel connected to a larger community. A shared interest brings people together and creates a common ground where people can learn from each other, feel supported, valued and accepted, and build lasting connections.

Is this something you would like to attend?

Would you consider setting up something like this in your community?