A much over-due update!

As 2019 draws to a close, I'm very much aware of the incomplete status of this project. A lot has happened since my last post about the tree next to our compost bin in Syracuse, NY. Long story short, we've sold our house in Syracuse and moved to Ithaca, NY in May 2019. We are currently renting. My wife no longer has the 1.25 hour commute each way between Syracuse and her job at Cornell University, so that's a huge plus for her...and for the environment!

Now that we're a bit settled into things in Ithaca, I've been reaching out to local composting organizations and seeing where the aerated bin experiment can be set up. Adam Michaelides with the composting learning collaborative (Cornell Cooperative Extension) has been awesome sharing his local connections and thoughts about where something like this could fit in to the Ithaca community. Some ideas are to try out the system at the Ithaca Ecovillage, set it up at a school (elementary/middle/high school) that's interested in composting, or to implement it at a community composting site that might be reaching its composting capacity.

So I'll be keeping you all up to date about these ideas. Winter is an ideal time to build connections and have conversations, so hopefully by spring we are ready to go with something!

In the meantime, here's a couple of interesting links. First is a map of carbon sources in New York State. With the aerated system, having a source of wood chips is key. According to the map, that won't be a problem here in Ithaca! The City gives out free wood chips. Second, I have a new job with an engineering and architecture consulting company in downtown Ithaca, LaBella Associates. I'm thrilled that through LaBella I'll be contributing to a study on the feasibility of food waste composting for the City of Rochester. You can read an early news article on the project here.

Here's to a healthy and happy New Year filled with compost! Thank you all for your patience and support - I'm looking forward to making progress on this project in 2020.