As many of you know, for the past three weeks we have been working with Dr. Sam Mason on a project with hopes to eventually implement curbside glass recycling and composting in Erie. We’ve been running small scale (about 100 houses) glass recycling and compost collection in West Bayfront and Frontier Park neighborhoods and then weighing and recording the results. We are running this project with the help of Prism Glass for glass collection and Conservation Compost for composting! After this collection, Dr. Mason will be running the Sustainability 200 class in the fall that will do data analysis in hopes to prove that implementing glass recycling and composting in Erie would offset the increase in tipping fees for garbage pickup, thus saving the city money and also doing great work to decrease litter and the amount of waste going into the landfill.

So far, the numbers are looking great! So far the average amount from each household is 16.5 lbs, with 60% of our collections being from glass and 40% being from compost. The official numbers for the research will be in this week after our final collection today, so keep an eye out for those numbers on our social media and next newsletter.

Check out this link to read more about Dr. Mason’s work!

Thanks to Maintenance and Operations, Hillside Shed and Storage, and Wm. T. Spaeder, our high tunnel is now accompanied by a spacious storage shed, an accessible water source, and soon-to-be-running electricity. These commodities will allow us to care for the plants within and around the high tunnel with greater ease, with tools and materials being close by, electricity managing the high tunnel’s automatic ventilation control, and the eventual installation of an irrigation system being made possible. With these new implementations in place, we’re hoping to continue planning and constructing the high tunnel space, focusing our efforts on building the soil in the interior and acquiring the necessary materials for raised garden beds.

We have had such an amazing time harvesting and cooking all the veggies we’ve been growing. From zucchini to green beans to flowers to lettuce, we’ve all been enjoying our fresh produce!

“After harvesting zucchinis, I immediately thought of making zucchini bread that my grandma had made for me countless times throughout my childhood. She was so excited to give me the recipe, and it was amazing to finally be able to make it myself and see her happiness in knowing the recipe was being passed down in our family!” – Jenna

We’ve also been enjoying making kale chips from our fresh kale as well as enjoying everything in smoothies and stir fries!

Don’t forget to follow our social media  to stay up to date on the latest news from the garden crew!