Turn yard debris and produce scraps into something you can use to enrich your flowers, vegetables, and lawn. Discover the basics of home composting in this fun class taught by Master Composters eager to share their experience with you. After attending this course, passing the open book exam, and clocking 10 hours of hands-on community experience, you will become a certified Washtenaw County Master Composter. Class fee includes the Michigan Master Composting Manual.
The Washtenaw County Master Composter class has been offered periodically through the Ann Arbor Public Schools Rec & Ed program. Class registration is available online at http://reced.aaps.k12.mi.us (search on "Master Composter").
6 weeks. 10/2/12-11/13/12 (no class on November 6 Election Day) FEE: $49
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM at Pioneer High School. One class will be held at the City of Ann Arbor’s Municipal Compost Center. General information posted at www.a2gov.org/compost, Master Composter link.
10/2 Class overview, Composting basics, types of bins (Nancy Stone) Outline (pdf) Lisa's 5-gal bucket method (pdf). Link to Web page for home composting.
10/9 Soils (Erica Kempter of Nature and Nurture) Soil texture chart (pdf)
10/16 Tour of municipal composting operations, commercial bin exhibit at 4150 Platt Road. Distribute/discuss open book exam (Nancy Stone) Web link to compost test results and explanations
10/23 Yard waste reduction, mulching, trench/pit composting (Chris Simmons) Waste reduction (pdf) inputs (pdf)
10/30 Worm bins, special composting, compost teas (Jessie Raudenbush of Starr Valley Farms) Redworm care (pdf); How to use worm castings (pdf); compost teas (pdf);
11/6 No Class-Election Day
11/13 Guest presenters with community composting opportunities, Take-Home Exam (pdf) corrected in-class; share ideas for volunteer projects, set date and topic/speaker for spring graduation pizza dinner (Lisa Perschke) Volunteer hours log-sheet (pdf).
Save the date! The Master Composter reunion dinner is Tuesday, May 14, 2013 6:30-8:30pm at Leslie Science & Nature Center, 1831 Traver Road. We'll start with a tour of Project Grow's outdoor Compost Education Center (CEC) and then have dinner in the Nature House. We'll share stories from people completing their 10 hours of volunteering, distribute Master Composter certificates and badges, and hear updates from returning Master Composter classes alumni. Pizza, salad and cookies will be provided. Please send completed volunteer 10-hour logs to Nancy, nstone@a2gov.org, by May 1 so we can have the certificates and badges ready for the occasion. Free event.