Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

ARVIAT
While it might be a simple concept, there's much more to effective composting than what meets the eye.

Sherilyn Sewoee takes off the dead plants while collecting quality compost in Arviat on Aug. 22, 2013. - photo courtesy Charlotte Karetak

Jessica Reiniger, a student at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., was spending the summer with her mother in Arviat when, after being contacted by Shirley Tagalik, she became a key player in the first stage of the greenhousing and composting portion of the community's food security and sustainability project.

She said the group collected compost this year. This will play a large role in future years of the project.

"It's going to take a couple of years until we have the organic mulch you'd put on plants," said Reiniger.

Reiniger said the best compost comes from nutrient- and mineral-rich plants, such as iron-rich spinach, because those minerals end up in the soil.

Another important factor, she said, is a good pH- (potential hydrogen) balance. Without that, the soil won't have the right microbial colonies and you won't be able to compost effciently.

Reiniger said you strive for a neutral pH-balance by balancing how many acidic items, such as citrus fruits, you put in, and other items such as coffee grounds, which are very alkali.

She said when it comes right down to it, compost is a fairly simple idea.

"You're breaking down things from vegetables to feed new plants, so it's good to mix in compost with just plain dirt to make good soil," she said, adding compost can be best described as a nutrient supplement for plants.

Reiniger said the Arviat project is currently using the drained liquid from collected compost as fertilizer.

She said the compost has to sit for a while to decompose, so it's being collected and put into barrel composters.

"It's a very long process and, because the season is so short in Arviat, it will probably take a few years," she said.

"If your compost freezes, it definitely sets you back quite a bit because you have to heat it to the point where it properly thaws."

Freezing kills off microbial colonies.

Reiniger said, at the moment, the Arviat group is hoping to start with seasonal composting so it can collect all the goods during the spring and set up barrels for the last frost.

The full barrels will likely be housed in a non-heated storage site during the winter unless a better location can be found.

"That's not an ideal situation, but, obviously, it's quite an issue in Arviat to find heated space to house compost," she said. "In time, composting will grow to be an integral part of this project."

Reiniger said the success of composting in the community will take an effort from the entire population, but it has a place in Arviat.

"The program will have to become integrated into the community and that's part of our hope in getting the schools involved," Reiniger said.

"Right now the compost site where we're collecting and putting the barrels together is within the school grounds.

Reiniger said same of the compost being used at the school is vermi compost, which uses worms.

"The students have been enjoying it and they were very excited when they saw the worms, so that will be another engagement point for the schools."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.