Growing Solutions Compost Tea Blog

Growing Solutions President Michael Alms and Pearl Buck Center Development Director Dena Amend proudly display the Compost Tea System10 donated by a benefactor for use in the Center’s Sensory Garden greenhouse. The Garden is a part of the Center’s on site preschool program.

Serving people with special needs since 1953, the Center helps adults in the Eugene, OR area develop the skills necessary to become productive in the work force. We’ll blog more about our ongoing partnership with Pearl Buck Center clients soon. In the meantime, we’re proud to be a part of this unique feature that the Center offers parents with preschool children.

Sharon Tamanaha puts the preschool's System10 to work.

Growing Solutions’ distributor Mindy Jaffe of Waikiki Worm Company reports on a great story of a process that we hope to see replicated in schools everywhere. It recalls the sagely adage of “it takes a village…”— in this case, a generous donor supplying a System10 to the Calvary-by-the-Sea Montessori Preschool in Aina Haina, Oahu, Hawaii, where organic waste fed to the school’s worm colony is fully recycled to everyone’s benefit.

Assistant teacher Sharon Tamanaha worked with Waikiki Worm to create the vermicompost program. Not only is the school’s garden and landscape benefiting from the weekly compost tea production, the fourth Sunday of every month is dedicated to tea brewed for sale to church members—always a sell out—that brings revenue to help sustain the program.

“We are very, very happy with our brewer,” Sharon says. “It’s easy to use and clean. Every plant is healthy and robust and the entire property just glows.”

Read the full article in Waikiki Worm Company’s newsletter here.

Michael shows Robin how to adjust the spray nozzle for best coverage of the compost tea on vegetable foliage at Common Ground Garden.

Frothy tea on a chilly fall day? Freshly brewed Compost Tea, that is—applied to the Common Ground Garden during the recent “Compost Tea for the Home Garden” workshop. Michael, with Anne Donahue of the Eugene (Oregon) Friendly Neighborhood Farmers, spoke to a hardy group of inquisitive home gardeners looking for insights on winterizing their gardens.

Michael noted that late fall is an excellent time to apply compost tea to garden beds, turf and general landscaping. “Spraying or drenching leaves, turf thatch and veggie plant material in a state of decay assists organic plant matter to break down, creating optimum soil amendments for the following spring,” he explained as the workshop attendees were visited by some of Oregon’s typical rainfall. “Even in light rain, it’s no problem…the additional moisture carries the good microorganisms further into the soil,” Michael continued.

Growing Solutions donated Compost Tea Catalyst, enough for 500 gallons of compost tea, to the Common Ground Garden. Using a 20 gallon sprayer, workshop participants helped distribute the tea Michael provided, and most took home a container of compost tea from a batch Anne had made using her home compost tea system. Hot cocoa and fresh cornbread fueled the conversation indoors as Michael demonstrated the System10 to gardeners of all ages. Another compost tea application workshop is planned for Spring 2011.

Using a "drencher" nozzle gives a good soaking to the winter vegetable beds.

Michael explains the mechanics of the System10 to gardeners of all ages.

Watching a movie is one of life’s diversions that nearly everyone can relate to, especially that feeling of wanting to share the news when you’ve just seen a great one. Our staff watched one such movie this May and posted a link on our Facebook page. Little did we know that our enthusiasm for this film would literally grow into an exciting new alliance.

Your purchase of the DVD through Growing Solutions adds $5 to the fund for distribution of the movie to schools.

DIRT! the Movie, directed and produced by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow, and narrated by actress Jamie Lee Curtis, brings to life the environmental, economic, social and political impact that the soil has through the stories of visionaries and experts from all over the world. You’ll learn how industrial agriculture has depleted our once fertile soils over the last 50 years, and how there is hope to reverse this trend in the very methods of sustainable agriculture that Growing Solutions advocates for and promotes through the sales of our products.

Based on the book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth by Quill and Trowel Award-winning writer Bill Logan, DIRT! the Movie takes you inside the wonders of the soil—Earth’s living skin. It tells the story of this most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility, from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation.

That basic understanding of the volume of life that takes place in the first five centimeters of the Earth’s skin resonated with everyone at Growing Solutions. Compost tea plays a large role in a dynamic system of solutions that can revive depleted soils with local inputs, low energy consumption and non-daunting technical skills. Naturally we wanted to find a way to share this educational tool with our customers, families and friends.

As an Affiliate Partner Growing Solutions’ Home Page now proudly displays the DIRT! the Movie icon. Click, buy the DVD, and your purchase will generate a $5.00 donation toward providing DVDs of the movie to schools throughout the U.S.

“I’m very pleased to see the wide distribution of this film, and we’re eager to contribute to the momentum,” Growing Solutions’ President Michael Alms explained. “DIRT! the Movie is the perfect portal to understanding that our soil is actually ALIVE! Your view of where and how our food is grown and enters the world’s markets will forever be changed. I encourage everyone to view this great story and be the change locally, in management of home lawns, gardens, and community greenspaces.”

Last week, Michael was in Marin County, California to consult with the owners of a new Compost Tea application company. Marin Soil Solutions’ owners, Bill Falk and Tom Bowen, have two of our Compost Tea Systems and recently received their new custom GSI Compost Tea sprayer. They are creating a service to apply Compost Tea to both residential and commercial properties as an economical and safe alternative to conventional fertilizers.  Michael was there to demonstrate the most effective ways to produce and apply Compost Tea to lawns, ornamentals, sports fields, school yards, etc.  The combination of using premium vermi-compost from Sonoma Valley Worm Farm and our Compost Tea Catalyst, will offer their customer base fantastic results!

Growing Solutions has a new page on Facebook!

If you are a Facebook member already, you can sign in and then enter Growing Solutions in the search box. You can become a “fan” or simply browse the pictures of our Compost  Tea Systems and information. We will be adding more content soon.

If you aren’t a Facebook member yet, you may click here to be taken to the page.

The GSI European Team.

On behalf of Growing Solutions, Michael Alms and the GSI European Distributors gathered in The Netherlands recently for the 10th annual Horti Fair held in the Amsterdam RAI Center. The Growing Solutions company philosophy and product line integrated well with the Horti Fair 2009 Exhibition theme:  “For a Sustainable Future.” The event, covering six hectares (15 acres) of floor space was home to over 700 exhibitors, attracting attendees from over 100 countries.

The subject of Compost Tea was a hot topic during the fair. The Growing Solutions Team engaged in a multitude of discussions regarding the use of Tea across a broad range of crops as a beneficial and cost effective alternative to conventional methods of plant production.

In addition to supporting the existing Growing Solutions distributor base in Holland, Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland the event attracted business opportunities from over 20 new countries including the regions of Africa, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and The Americas.

“Horti Fair 2009 was clearly a strategic event for our Distributors to attend. The event platform afforded our Team the ability to showcase their Compost Tea products and services, offering solution driven alternatives to the inevitable shift in conventional growing techniques,” according to Michael Alms.

Marc Verhofstede and Urs Hildebrandt, providing in depth detail to attendees from France.

Michael Alms, Urs Hildebrandt and Jitze Peenstra at the 2009 Horti Fair.

The GSI System10 holds a seat of honor near Graze's Buddha on the rooftop.

The roof of Glide Memorial Church, located in one of San Francisco’s harshest urban environments, is “growing.” This rooftop edible, community-produced vegetable garden, dubbed Graze the Roof, is maintained primarily by youth from the local area and raises food for the homeless population. A progressive church and nonprofit organization, Glide has provided resources for the underserved for more than 45 years.

Graze features soil-less gardening vegetable growers; self-watering containers; lightweight garden beds made from milk crates; a worm composting system, vermicompost tea, and an educational mural that ties the whole project together. Glide youth and volunteers from throughout the Bay Area maintain the garden and host monthly tours and workshops.

Seed to Belly is Glide’s experiential workshop for children that teaches the essentials of the food cycle. The Growing Solutions System10 residing on the roof is highlighted in this educational program in conjunction with composting and methods for creating healthy soils to boost plant growth. The System10′s vermicompost tea is used with the hydroponic system, currently growing tomatoes, and to amend the vegetable beds.

(left) Children learn where their food comes from at Graze's Seed to Belly program. (right) Graze the Roof at Glide Memorial Church.