The Winona Farm has a community service/compost site, which operates with no tax dollar support. Every day, from dawn 'til dark the farm is open for business. In a world of change this farm is in an ideal location to demonstrate the use of the city's waste materials. Instead of using potentially toxic fertilizers the Farm uses only compost to enrich it's fields. After just one application on our hayfield we almost doubled the volume of hay the following year, we were amazed to see red clover growing on parts of the field where the previous year there had only been grass, so as well as having greater volume it was also a better quality hay.
Goats and sheep eating brush.
Cattle eating grass clippings.
In many farms most of the manure is spread directly on fields and a high percentage of the nutrients are evaporated, washed or leached away, thus polluting instead of benefiting. All cities and most rural areas have high carbon materials, such as sawdust, bark, etc., which is often wasted. Winona residents and industries have the opportunity to bring these items to The Winona Farm so it can remain a part of the cycle. Composting these materials ties up the nutrients in the horse manure and cattle manure in a usable form, plus adds the nutrients and organic bulk of the added materials. Local institutions and businesses food wastes also become a part of the cycle as they are fed to livestock whose manures become a part of the compost pile. Unfortunately some businesses and schools still send their left over food to the landfill site where the nutrients are removed from the cycle and at risk of causing pollution.
Another type of manure that can be safely composted is humanure; this resource is generally wasted and often causes pollution of waterways. If improperly treated it can spread disease. The "normal" method for dealing with the by-product of our digestive system is very wasteful of another valuable yet very undervalued substance, water. Few people think about it until the well runs dry. Town water is often treated with chlorine, then in the processing of treating the human-waste to make it safe even more chlorine is used, a lot of electricity is also devoured in this process. Yet society looks upon this as more than just acceptable, most people put the flush toilet up there with food, water and shelter as a necessity. There is an alternative; for information on this subject you can read "The Humanure Handbook" by Joe Jenkins online. His is a rather crude, yet very effective system, with a minimal cash outlay and nothing to go wrong. For the squeamish amongst us there are other more esthetically pleasing methods out there for composting instead of wasting humanure. For information on more high-tech methods go to "The World of Composting Toilets."
Here on the farm logs too large to grind economically are burned in an outside wood boiler to heat the farmhouse and our water. We are working on a way to burn this waste wood in a large furnace to generate electricity, the lighter wood and brush will still be ground up to be used and bedding which will ultimately become compost.
This is probably the most economically fair, educationally enlightening, environmentally friendly compost system in this country. That is a strong statement, but I believe it and still eagerly look for suggestions and new ideas. Every town and city needs one or many farms nearby where those who want can still feel part of the land. No community can even think of being "sustainable" without a direct connection to a farm. The Winona Farm is actually Winona's Farm. It is like a public library, where anyone can feel free to take part in whatever activities are taking place. I have had nothing but good response from visitors. Regular composters watch out for The Farm as though it was their own and that is how we want them to feel.
A compost site is usually at the dump end of town, where local citizens would not take visitors. Winonans
bring their children, grandchildren and visitors to The Winona Farm. This isn't a petting farm or zoo, but if
you are here when we are bottle feeding calves or getting in hay, we will encourage you to take part. We
can become a leader in demonstrating the bond that can develop between a community and a farm. So
many parents and grandparents have told me how the young kids will announce that when they finish
mowing or raking, "then we can go to The Farm!". The cows eagerly check each composter's contribution
for edibles, which they recycle as the city people watch. We also have some pigs that root through the pile and
give visitors a chance to see what happy hogs can do with their snout.
