By MG Intern Cally Neely
In March, six Montgomery County Master Gardeners (along with five non-MGs) completed the pilot Montgomery County Extension Composter Course program, which entailed 12.5 hours of virtual coursework and in-person training. The program required that participants:
Pass a 3.5-hour Community Composting 101 prerequisite course;
Pass both a pre- and post-assessment test; and
Attend 3 days in person at Derwood Demo Garden’s Composting Education Hub (9 total hours).
The MGs helped build a compost pile from scratch using a toter full of food scraps donated by Manna Food Center. They practiced safely recycling organic waste of the county and facilitating the natural process of turning it into a viable soil amendment for Derwood Demo Garden use. They learned best management composting practices to reduce pathogens and strategies to test metrics of the compost pile (moisture levels, bulk density (air space), O2 levels, and more). Learn more about the course in a separate article from this month.
We congratulate these MCMG affiliates on completing the Montgomery County Extension Composter Course (pictured left to right above):
MG Eniko Csikos
MG Carol Hayes
MG Celeste Houser Jackson
MG Intern Elina Sarkisova
MG Melissa Spence
MG Maxine Glazer (not pictured)
