News

September 2, 2010

Leftovers Go A Long Way For Urban Gardeners

A few weeks ago, a neighborhood resident made mention that Mokabe's Coffee House [3606 Arsenal] donated their leftovers to a local couple for composting. The couple, Thomas and Anna Sandidge, agreed to answer a few questions about the fascinating world of sustainable home gardening in St. Louis. What The Scoop found out was that not only is there a growing number of home gardeners and urban farmers in this are, but that by creating a vegetable garden in your back yard, you become less dependant on grocery stores (obviously), and more conscious of what you eat.

You use leftovers from Mokabe’s brunch for your compost pile. What kind of foods are you looking for to use for that compost pile?

We collect roughly 150 pounds of material from Mokabe’s every Sunday afternoon.  About 100 pounds is coffee grounds and biodegradable filters which accumulates during the week.  About 20 pounds comes from preparation waste: mostly fruits and egg shells.  An additional 30 pounds is leftover food.  The coffee grounds can be added directly to the garden but we don’t do that because we need the filters to break down.  The preparation waste composts rather quickly and the egg shells provide calcium which helps keep the soil neutral.  The leftovers are the biggest challenge because of high protein from eggs, soy, and cheese.  At one point we considered not taking the leftovers because we just couldn’t find a good way to treat such a large amount all at once.  Our best solution to date is to bury it 12 to 18 inches deep and let it decompose anaerobically for several months.

Do you visit other area restaurants for composting material?

We don’t collect from other area restaurants because Mokabe’s is about all we can handle right now.  We’ve built three 5 cubic yard bins (6x6x4 feet) to handle our composting needs (Mokabe’s and our own yard, garden and kitchen organics).  As you can imagine, this requires a large yard to keep everything pleasantly situated.  We could probably handle coffee grounds from another two coffee shops but food waste is just too demanding in large quantities and the degree of coordination required puts it just beyond the range of commitments we’re willing to take on.

Please elaborate on your garden: Do you consider it a hobby, or a lifestyle?

We consider our garden as a transition from total dependence on the commercial food distribution system to perhaps 75% self sufficiency.  We’ve been at it for about three years and expect that it will take another three to get to where we want to be.  For us, gardening is both a hobby and a lifestyle: it is a lifestyle because the food is so much better than anything commercially grown and we see gardening as a source of food security; it is a hobby because we are still experimenting and not yet watching our costs.

Why did you start your garden?

We started our garden partly because we wanted our own fresh vegetables but also because we have a very large yard and we didn’t see the value of watering a bunch of grass.  Since we both grew up on the farm, we also felt a bit distressed that our soil is alternating layers of sand and clay with very little organic material.  We started with an area about 8 feet by 12 feet.  This year we have 1,000 square feet that has been amended 8 to 12 inches deep with our own compost and will actually now hold moisture instead of drying out every two or three days.  We also planted a 50’x60’ area that wasn’t even growing grass just to see whether we could get anything.  With only minimal compost, no herbicides, and no pesticides, we did manage to get some corn, squash, potatoes, kale, lettuce, and a whole bunch of weeds :- )  Next year we’ll try it again but incorporate what we learned about the soil and shade patterns.

What do you grow?

This year we planted lettuce, radish, onion, potatoes, snow peas, kale, several varieties of herbs, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, asparagus, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and four varieties of corn.  Within the next few days we should plant a fall garden of lettuce, carrots, and kale.

What resources are out there for the average STL gardener?

Gateway Greening is a nice resource.  Missouri Botanical Gardens Demo gardens are good.  Also Home Eco and talking to the farmers in the markets and connecting with local gardeners and urban farms.  Schlafly Bottleworks hosts wonderful information sessions and the Extension Center at Lincoln University works to expand small farmers (often truck farmers) access to innovative resources.

There is a growing community of urban farmers/gardeners. Are you part of any groups or food co-ops?

We don’t formally belong to any groups at present.  In the past we were involved with New Roots Urban Farm in North city and with the Buying Group of Saint Louis which is a food co-op.

What was your most memorable/favorite dish created from your garden?

We roasted a duck that we had raised ourselves (note: we strongly recommend that you don’t try to raise ducks in the city and we will never do that again!).  We made a sauce made with plums from a friend’s tree, the salad, potatoes, beans, kale, and all herbs came from the garden.  The only outside material we used was salt, pepper, oil, and vinegar.

One favorite is thick slices of squash brushed with olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, and grilled over a wood fire.

Roughly speaking, does gardening save you money? If so, how much?

This year we spent about $50 on seeds and probably another $50 on tools, lime, etc.  The difference in cost of driving the truck on Sunday instead of the car is probably around $150 per year.  So a rough estimate is $250 per year plus the depreciation on the tiller and compost bins.  So at this point we probably aren’t breaking even (hence the hobby aspect to our garden).  But this is far more than most people need to spend.  If you have a shovel and a bit of time you can probably get by for as little as $20.  A well tended 8’x12’ area in the sun can produce quite a bit of food – probably more than $200 a season at retail prices.  And you don’t even need that if you stay extremely simple: we have friends that grow amazing tomatoes in 5 gallon pails because their space is at a premium.

How would you start a compost pile/backyard garden? Tips?

We recommend that people start very simply and very small.  It’s kind of like lifting weights: if you go all out right at first you’ll probably not go back a second time.

Composting can be can be quite simple or amazingly complex.  If the material has the proper nitrogen balance (such as coffee grounds) you can basically throw it in a pile.  If it has low nitrogen content (such as most grass clippings and fallen leaves) then you will need to turn it, add moisture and nitrogen (sour milk is perfect!), and it will take time to break down.  The hardest is high protein material such as most food scraps.  These are great to add in a little at a time, but too much can cause odor and attract vermin.  As a general rule, if your compost pile stinks, you’re doing something wrong.  Of course, nature doesn’t care if it stinks and will decompose all of it over time anyway, but the neighbors tend to object.  Also, you can choose two general approaches: using heat (bacterial decomposition) or not (using micro flora and fauna and worms).    We recommend that you get some already composted material to start your pile (or bin) and mix food scraps in every other day or so.  For yard waste, start conservative and go from there.

For the garden:  Try tomatoes, kale, cucumbers, lettuce, and squash.  Each of these vegetables has a large number of varieties.  Our experience is that you should pick two or three vegetables that you really like and then plant two or three varieties of each if you’ve got room.  Take notes on which variety works best in your location and experiment with it and a couple other varieties the next year.  Kale is very hardy: we usually harvest it until December.  Tomatoes will grow well in a large pot if you don’t let them get too dry or keep them too wet.  Cucumbers will climb onto and extend along a fence nicely.  Squash will spread out over a large area looking for just the right amount of light.  You can plant lettuce early in an area that will later be too shady and possibly harvest it longer than normal because the shade delays bolting.

Think in terms of three to five years.  The first year you are testing to see if you like gardening and if the plants you’ve selected like your garden.  The second year the compost should be showing some results and you will probably adjust how and what you plant.  (It may also be a test of how willing you are to persevere!)  By the third year you’ll know your garden and you’ll probably have amended the soil so that it works easily.  Weeds will be especially easy to grow in good soil so it will seem like a bit more work than you’d thought.  By the fifth year you will have rich soil, know how to get the most out of what you grow, and will diligently grub out the weeds before they get a good start.