Wiggling Around

Today I attended an assembly at Little a’s school, High Lakes.  I received an email from her teacher this morning inviting me to see her get an award for positive behavior.  I was psyched to go and see the ceremony!  I arrived on time, took my seat and waited for her class to arrive in the auditorium.

Remember those days as a kid?!  I sure do!  I loved assemblies. A change in the schedule meant less work and more time to socialize with your friends. woohoo!

First on the docket was the presentation of the awards. I thought we’d be out soon, but I was soooooooo wrong, BUT pleasantly surprised. The music teacher called a group of 4/5th graders up to the stage to do a Broadway Ensemble!!!! Holy Cow!  I was in heaven!  NYC! NYC! I couldn’t believe it because just yesterday I wrote a post about a dream job in NYC! So for the next 20 minutes, I was whisked off to NYC, listening to the sounds of the Lion King, Rent, and Wicked! What a show!  My toes were tapping and my leg was a-swinging! “Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes!  I just can’t wait to be KING!!!” They were terrific….  After the musical, we were dismissed back to our classes. Oh wait!…not me!  The kids were dismissed, and I had to wait in the hall until school was over!

While checking the art work and fun stuff, I saw this simple yet effective teacher made poster on the wall!  Way to go High Lakes!  I love, love, love seeing reminders to recycle.  This sign raises the awareness of the students and staff. It makes you think before you toss.  This is similar to the sign at Mt.Bachelor except it’s a bit more detailed.

There’s just one item on this list that I want to change!  One of Wonder Worman’s missions!  Can you find it? I’ll give you about 5 seconds to scan and answer……Ready, Set, GO!  5, 4, 3, 2, 1…..Times UP!

I want to move the Food!!!! to the recycling side and create a side that writes “Put in the Compost Bucket!”

Soon, Soon, soon!  Patience WW! Patience!!

One school at a time…….  (Tumalo Community School is on the horizon)

Maybe I can get an award for displaying patience!  ….nah, there’s no time for that!

Members of Deschutes Recycling and St.Charles Health Care Center and me! I got to wear a vest, too!!!

Today, I had the coolest opportunity to visit the Deschutes Recycling Compost Facility  housed at the Knott Landfill!  I loved every single minute of the visit and couldn’t stop the smile from shining the whole, entire time!  There’s something so inspiring and motivating to see composting on such a massive level.

This week, I had a meeting with members of St. Charles Health Care Center to talk about their planned community garden and learn more about their pre and post consumer waste which is being collected by Deschutes Recycling.  I was fascinated by the composting program and asked if I could tag along on their visit to the composting facility.  I had to see it in action.  Their set-up is truly amazing.

Brown and Green waste ready to be moved to the next phase of the composting process.

On the composting site, the food waste travels to 4 areas before it is ready to be usable compost for your gardens.  (Carlos took amazing video footage and will be edited sometime soon!)  This photo shows the compost moving from the 2nd phase to the 3rd phase.  This is a mixture of brown and green organic waste.  You can see the brown waste on the bottom and the green food waste in the middle and a bit of brown on the top.  The drop box also has black tubes inserted to pump in air so aerobic decomposition occurs.  This process takes about 30 days and temperatures reach about 130F which kills the pathogens in the compost.

Can you find the white sprout?

Here’s a close up of the compost.  They are doing a terrific job keeping it aerated.  A sure sign of aerobic decomposition is the smell it gives off while breaking down.  This batch has an earthy smell.  Good Job Deschutes!  This will then move to a windrow to continue decomposing and then move to the screening process to remove any pieces that didn’t compost, such as large pieces of bone.

There are only 2 facilities participating in this food composting program on a commercial level.  Soon, Deschutes Recycling will continue to provide this service to many more commercial businesses in Deschutes County.  Very cool, very cool indeed!

Happy Wormin’

If you’re a local, pick up the latest free edition of the CBN! This issue’s focus was “Women in Business”. Carlos and I put together a PR piece. Actually Carlos wrote most of the article. I am excited to be included among some wonderful women in Central Oregon.