Soil Cycle's 2021 Pumpkin ReHarvest was a "smashing" success! Between November 1st - 6th, pallet-sized boxes adorned 4 local businesses: Soil Cycle, Rockin' Rudy's, Southgate Mall, and Caras Nursery waiting to be filled with the community's dilapidated Halloween decorations. Fill they did- over 6,000lbs worth!
On Sunday the 7th, volunteers tossed pumpkins and their guts into the back of a Little Dumps truck in route to Turner Farms. Farmer Jon invited the farm's cows and goats to a nutritious feast where we also appreciated the community's effort to recycle their pumpkins rather than landfill them.
On Sunday, October 24th, Soil Cycle and Missoula Urban Demonstration Project (MUD) hosted a fundraiser where individuals could adopt plants for the long winter ahead in recycled pots and planted in Soil Cycle soil. Thank you to all the smiling eyes and masked faces that attended!
Time for Tea
The typical growing season might be coming to an end here in Montana, but the biological and fungal activity is still very much alive at Soil Cycle! Our indoor wormery is more active than ever and creating highly nutritious castings which we use to make compost tea. This is a great time of year to give your houseplants a boost of energy as daylight hours shorten- keep reading to see what Caras Nursery is doing.
Using compost tea as a foliar spray, drench, or simply added to houseplant water provides quick, easy-to-uptake nutrients in a gentle, organic manner. It introduces good microbes that can overtake the bad microbes which cause disease, helping your plant become more resilient.
We are excited to work with Caras Nursery, brewing compost tea for their greenhouse plants. This will allow them to reduce their use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.
Introducing Our New Board President!
We are excited to have Madson Matthias as our new board president! Madson will be leading our board of new members through strategic planning to set the organization up for many more years of success in Missoula. When asked about why Madson is passionate about this work, they commented,
"Places, tangible and perceptual, are the medium through which people connect to their environment. Wherever people exist, clues of their needs, philosophical arguments, critical and political agendas, and understandings of nature remain inscribed on the landscapes of these places. I am constantly and vehemently inspired by the influence that human-built structures have over the way we move through and think about places.
We have the power, individually and collectively, to shape our physical realities and, more importantly, to evoke social change, promote human health, and foster a relationship with nature through this process.
We have the power to bring deeper levels of empathy, intelligence, and community to the ways we shape each component of the places in our lives.
We have the power to imbue our homes, our public spaces, and even our ~soil~ with an intent to regenerate, to thrive, to be vibrant, and to connect."
- Madson Matthias
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Giving Thanks - Giving Tuesday
On November 30th, 2021 we will be raising funds to support Soil Cycle's many regenerative programs:
$20 - Helps buy building materials and gloves for volunteers
$50 - Supports a student field-trip
$70 - One new trashcan for more collections
$100 - Air pump for our compost bin modification
$200 - Studded tires for our collection bikes
