IN THESE days of environmental awareness,
mand to ‘‘get down and get dirty’’

composting habits.

If you have yet to get down and
get dirty in your own garden,
tomorrow will provide an ad-
mirable opportunity to learn how
to do so.

The new North Vancouver
Compost Demonstration Garden
in the Park and Tilford Gardens
will be officially opened just after
noon, and appropriate horticul-
tural activities will take place from
noon to 2 p.m.

On hand to cut the ribbon will
be the local hero, Captain Recy-
cle, ably assisted by North Van-
couver City Aldermen Stella Jo
Dean and Barbara Perrault. .

And while you nibble on
refreshments and your kids take
part in the challenging, skill-
honing Veggie Toss, you can have
all your gardening and composting
questions answered by North
Shore News garden columnist
Geoff Tobiasson and City Farm-
er’s composting expert, Mike
Levenston.

Apartment dwellers or those
compost keeners who would like
to compost at their office or in
their classroom will be interested
in speaking with Susan Ray, one
of Vancouver's | leading worm
composting experts.

Worm compost boxes are no
longer as unusual as they once
were, and they can be seen popp-
ing up.in the starchiest corporate
venues.: :

if they are set up and used cor-

rectly (don’t use dead worms like
I did two years ago), worm boxes
are an odorless and effective way
to compost indoors.
’ The North Vancouver
demonstration garden joins the
“pranks of other demonstration sites
that show backyard composting
units in action so homeowners can
research which composter is best
suited to their needs.

Other nearby - demonstration
gardens are at 15th:and Argyle in
West Vancouver, near the Bur-
naby Recycling Depot at 4856 Still

Friday, April 3, 1992 - North Shore News - 25

Recyclers open demonstration compost garden

the com-
is likely to refer to

Peggy
Trendell-Whitiaker

_ECO INFO

Creek Ave., and at City Farmer,
2150 Maple St. in Kitsilano.

The North Shore is throwing
itself behind composting in a big
way this year, and it’s no wonder:
yard and kitchen waste makes up
over 30% of the Lower
Mainiand’s residential waste
stream, and the numbers could be
higher on the North Snore because
of our large yards.

One backyard composter will
divert between 260 and 300 kg of
yard and food waste each year.
This is not only beneficial to your
garden and helpful in relieving the
solid waste crisis, it’s an excellent
saving of taxpayers’ money.

With landfill tipping fees runn-
ing at about $69 per ‘tonne, the
more waste that is diverted from
the curb into composters, the
more money will be saved at the
dump or incinerator.

Currently under way are plans
for a centralized compost facility
that would accept residential,
commercial and municipal yard
waste and turn it into marketable,
nutrient-rich compost.

By saving money on tipping
fees, charging commercial vehicles
a fee to take yard waste there, and

Yoga instruction offered

NORTH SHORE
. Neighborhood House (NSNH)
is offering spring yoga instruc-
tion on Mondays from 6 to
7:30 p.m.
The classes run from April 6
to June 22 and cost $42.50.
Participants are asked to
bring a mat or blanket to sit on.

Hatha Yoga improves total
health of body, mind, emotion
and spirit through the practice
of breathing exercises, relaxa-
tion and meditation.

Interesied participants are
asked to pre-register. For fur-
ther information call NSNH at
987-8138.

Come to the
GRAND OFENING
of the

North Vancouver

COMPOST

Demonstration Garden

‘and have your compost and gardening questions answered
by News Coiumnist Geoff Tobiasson and
compost expert Mike Levenston. .

Food & Fun for ail!

Park & Tiiford Gardens
Saturday, April 4, [2-2 P.M.

selling the compost product, the
local municipalities will see the
new facility break even at worst
and realize a respectable profit at
best.

Also in the works are plans for
the subsidized sale of backyard
compost units to North Shore res-
idents.

While this has still to be ap-
proved by ail three iocal councils,
such a program wouid no doubt
be extremely popular as an easy,
cheap way for people to get their
own household composting regime
started.

For those of you who have held
off composting because you think
it’s a lot of fuss and bother, rest
assured that you don’t have to
take the subject as seriously as
some of the more earnest, com-
mitted gardeners in our midst.

There are very basic, simple
rules for everyone to follow, but
how far you get involved past that
point is a matter of individual
preference. .

All composters should be
rodent-resistent, or you may have
North Shore Health’s en-
vironmental control officer Bert
Engelmann knocking at your door
telling you that your neighbors
have called in with stories of rat
sightings. -

Besides rats, other common
pests that are attracted to compost
piles are mice, raccoons, skunks,
flies and wasps.

It’s not: hard to discourage
them, though —- just make sure
your bin is on a hard surface such
as paving stones, so the animals
can’t burrow in from underneath,
and if you have a wooden com-
poster make sure it’s lined with
%”"’ to “%"" galvanized wire mesh,
16 to 20 gauge in strength.

You can keep the lid secure
with a few bungy cords.

You are taking away much of
the pests’ motivation for visiting
at all if you make sure you don’t
put in their favorite dishes —
cocked kitchen scraps, meat, fish,
bones, fatty. foods like cheese and
salad dressing and cooking oils.

To help the composting process,

gardeners are advised to alternate
carbon-rich materials, such as
straw and leaves, with nitrogen-
rich layers of grass clippings and
kitchen waste.

Here is where the wheat is sepa-
rated from the chaff as far as
dedicated composters go. While
some green thumbs make their
mixing of compost ingredients an

awe-inspiring art form, not
everyone has to show the same
dedication.

Don’t worry that you'll have to
start giving up social engagements
because you have to stay home
babysitting your compost heap.
Just observe the basic rules and
nature will take care of itself from
there on.

JEAN Y. MITCHELL
REGISTERED MASSAGE THERAPIST
is pleased to announce
the opening of
PAREKGATE MASSAGE THERAPY CLINIC
224-3650 Mt. Seymour Parkway
North Vancouver, B.C.
(Located in Parkgate Shopping Centre) ~

924-1777

924-1773.

RESTAURANT

Where Good Things Happen

as

Pacific Rim Menu _ Fresh Seafood
Broiled Steaks, Lamb, Veal, Chicken, Salads
in Ambleside

Patio Dining Now Open.
: 445- 13th Street, _ Vancouver 926-8922

Time to get Growing!

Plant a seed for increased Spring sales.
Advertise in the Spring Lawn +: Garden Section appearing in your
Friday April 24th edition of the North Shore News.

Customers will be looking for practical advice on products and services
to improve their homes.
From hints for the do- “it-yourselter tc to words of advice
from seasoned veterans.
Hurry! Deadline is April 9

ISSUE DATE

FRIDAY, APRIi. 24th

TO ADVERTISE CALL
DISPLAY ADVERTISING

980-0511

pa Rc OA

SUNDAY + WEONESSAY > FRIDAY