Soil Stories: event waste composting that's regenerative, circular, creative and kind
Food waste is one of those tricky problems that refuses to be solved with simple solutions. I LOVE a challenge, and find the conundrum of events a really exciting space to work in.
Traditionally, when someone hosted a gathering, the chef would be part of the event, and be cooking in their own kitchen, with a garden or farmer nearby who would take the food scraps for animals or a compost bin and grow food. Those good old days, when communities were smaller and waste didn't need specialists to manage it, because making soil was common sense.
Somewhere along the way, events got complicated, with caterers brought in, venues hired out, and guests not expecting the food to be locally grown.
In order to make events affordable, there are cost cutting efficiencies, like single use plates and cups so that there's no need to hire a dish washer or use any water.
If you do go to an event where food scraps are sorted, they are most often just picked up by a commercial hauler to be processed at a large facility, perhaps making the compost you buy at your local garden centre.
I say there's a better way.
What if the food scraps from an event somehow holds the energy of the event itself?
And what if the compost made from those food scraps could be viewed as a tangible remnant of the event, something that could be used very intentionally in a gardening project related to the event?
This is the idea behind soil stories - to tell a story about the compost made from a series of events, each batch of food waste processed separately and returned to the hosts (or guests, or chefs) at an event.
Examples of soil stories
Chef's Table, a banquet meal hosted by Kai Franklin and the Franklin Local Board
April 2024
Dishes prepared by chefs in the Pukekohe region, to showcase local produce.
Food scraps: 16 litres of mostly banana leaves, which were used on the plates to sit the meat dish on. There were a few lemon slices from the jugs of water, but other than that I think every plate was polished off.
Composting: As you can see, this volume of food waste is easy to manage in a home composting operation, and because I wanted the soil to be kept separate from all other composting at the soil farm, I used a box worm farm system over the winter months of 2024 to slowly transform the food waste into worm castings. The banana leaves stuck together quite stubbornly, so it was a matter of adding other material every few weeks.
Finished soil: We made 7.5 kg of worm castings, and I estimated approximately 8,000 worms were bred in this box.
Where the soil was used:
The first jar went to Connie Clarkson, the organiser of the Chef's Table event. She's planning to use it as a tonic for her Peace Lily houseplant.
Another jar went to Emma Emery-Sinclair of Impact Hub Waikato, as part of a presentation I gave on 'Soil Stories' for their community showcase evening.
I had to put some in front of the venue - 1 Roulston.
I then put about a litre into a bucket and as I ran errands around Pukekohe, I dropped some to my favourite trees. I adore Cedar trees, and have a few favourites in the Pukekohe area: Roulston Park, Buckland, the church in Pukekohe East were a few of these. I scattered some soil into the public planters on Edinburgh Street, and then a little more outside the library and the town hall.
There is more soil left - what significant spaces in Pukekohe need to get this special gift?
Please send your ideas by email to katrina@blueborage.co.nz
What's the next soil story?
If you'd like help making a soil story for your event, please get in touch: katrina@blueborage.co.nz
If you are local to Waikato/Auckland, then I may be able to make the soil for you, but if you're further away then I'm happy to advise you on what's needed.
You can book a consultation here: https://calendly.com/blueborage/soil_stories
