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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
One thing is noticeable when talking to Velma Sterenberg about composting: it's all about giving back to the community.

"What needs to be acknowledged is that my neighbours are really a part of it and that is important to me," she said. "I am not out there being the 'compost queen' and exhorting the rest of the neighbours to contribute. It is the importance of giving back and educating kids by helping them become interested."

Sterenberg was one of eight recycling award winners recognized by the city last week at the Solid Waste Forum. Sterenberg was applauded for her "enthusiasm and knowledge of outdoor organic composting and indoor worm composting."

She took Yellowknifer on a short tour of her composter Tuesday morning on Dakota Court. Sterenberg is waiting for the last of winter's frost to get a look at whether her composting worms survived the winter.

While she has been a compost practitioner her whole life, she said her Northern practice was especially influenced by former neighbour, Bishop Jack Sperry, who passed away this winter.

"I lived next door to the former Bishop Sperry," she said, noting she moved into the location in 2004. "A lot of the Northern composting I learned from him because he was a master composter. When he left to go to Hay River (a few years ago), he gave me all of the compost from his bins. He gave me 16 garbage bags of composting."

During the years of living near Sperry, the bishop taught her about how it was possible to decompose material quickly in a Northern climate, despite the inherent difficulties. Balancing the right amount of sun and wind, picking the right location for the bin, and making proper use of aeration were all tips she picked up from Sperry.

Though when she first moved into the house, it was taking her two to three years to rot down a pile of compost, last summer, Sterenberg composted three full bins of material; piles which she estimates to be about four-to-four-and-a-half feet high.

Having gotten the knowledge from Sperry, Sterenberg said she takes a lot of delight in the practice of teaching children the glories of composting.

"One of the absolute highlights for me is that when I moved into this house, some kids living in one of the other houses would come by and ask to look at the worms. When their parents ended up moving away later, for Halloween those kids came back to visit and the first thing they asked me was 'can we see your worms?'

"They did that for two years in a row and I thought that was good because I have made an impression on the youth of our world to think about worm composting."

The structure itself is made entirely from salvaged material from the dump, aside from the wood screws. She said she was lucky to find someone at the dump last spring who was throwing out lumber from a deck and also came across some garage panelling, which she used to insulate the bottom and put on top over the winter.

She also found some metal wiring which is largely used to keeps animals out.

All of these finds show not only how handy salvaging can be, but also how cost effective it can be, she said. She shuddered when thinking about how much she might have had to pay to buy lumber and insulation and other material.

The design is a modified version of a suggested compost construction published in The Rodale Book of Composting, which she had to slightly change to allow more air to move through the sides of the bin. She has removable pieces of insulation made out of garage panel which she slots into the sides around mid-October for the winter season.

Diane Boudreau, a friend and neighbour, is a biologist. Every two weeks she brings about four boxes of left over fruits and vegetables from different sources, including a local restaurant.

"This is our experiment and I have had to bring a lot of food to make sure there is a lot of heat and to make sure that the worms survive over the winter," said Boudreau. "I am waiting for an answer with the worms."

Looking ahead, Sterenberg said her knowledge is also being used at the new community garden, which is being established at the Northland Trailer Park.

She continues to be a champion of community gardening and the importance of recycling.

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