So we went to the Roadhouse garden with Li Haixin and our constructer and we managed to explain perfectly well how to built the compost piles out of brick. We explained the dimensions, the need to leave wholes between the bricks and other stuff too and everything went well. It's great that we have so talented staff around here. A week from that the piles where ready and looking good - really, surprisingly good. We built three piles right next to each other, against the wall in the garden, next to the southern walkway. I wish I could add a picture here out of them, but I still can’t do that for some reason. However, I will add pictures of it to our Roadhouse Garden gallery which can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.fi/msrpublicphotos/TheRoadhouseSpringGarden# . Please feel free to have a look. The final dimensions of each pile is 1,5m wide, 1,1m deep, 0,8m high in the front and 1,1m high in the back - so it’s higher in the back than it is in the front, thus the cover is not straight but leading towards the ground. This way we were able to make more room to it and make the mixing of the compost convenient at the same time. Each pile goes also 30cm under ground, so the actual height from the bottom of the pile is 1,1m in the front and 1,4m in the back. This is for two reasons – first of all, the waste composts better if it has good contact with the ground and it’s little creatures, secondly this way we were able to make the composting space big enough without making it necessary to use ladders when working with the pile. The covers of the piles were made out of sheet metal with small air wholes in it. There is also a small space left between the walls and the cover to make the ventilation adequate.

So now we have the compost bins and the compost piles on sites – the composting can start. In a few moths we should have natural fertilizer (ready compost) to make organic garnening possible. As told earlier, we started to separate the waste before the piles where ready. That turned out to be a really good thing, because the first set of compost bags turned out to be rather disastrous. Not because there were wrong this put the bins per se, but because there were lots of liquids such as soup thrown there. When all this stuff was kept in the big compost bin behind art room, the bin was suddenly half full of liquids and it was a mess. Well, we just threw those ones among normal garbage and I made new signs above every bin saying “no liquids! 不要放任何液体!”. There were also some meet and even some cigarette butts thrown in the compost bins, but otherwise people have adopted this new separating thing really well. Of course there's a bit of something wrong occasionally, but by constantly checking the bins that hasn’t been a problem. I has really taken me by surprise how well people are doing this, how well the instructions are being fallowed. That’s a great thing and has made me believe that this thing is going to work. Well done staff!

It is Li Fengquen, our gardener and farmer, and his people who are going to transfer the compost to the Roadhouse compost piles and take care of the piles. We went to the site to explain how this thing works and at least he seemed to be on the same page. First we decided to put the plastic bags containing the compost waste to the big compost bin and then make them empty the bags to the compost piles. However, yesterday we decided with Randhir to empty the plastic bags already to the big compost bin and the big bin can just be emptied to the compost pile with a shovel or something like that. We came to this decision because we though it would be easier for Li Fenquen’s people this way and also because the bin was still too wet, so we though that if the bags are emptied there in the first place we can add there dry material to keep it dryer. It is a little bit hard to explain, but anyway it’s easier to take care of the big compost bin behind the art room if the plastic bags are emptied there. We can mix brown material straight there in addition to adding it to the pile and that way make the compost program more likely to succeed. I gave a document to Li Fenquan (thanks to Michelle for translation!) which has some instructions how to take care of the compost piles and how to make a right combination of green and brown material. I also wrote down a bit more detailed procedures for him as well as others, but they are still waiting to be translated and handed over:

1. Transport the big bin behind Art Room once or twice a week to Roadhouse compost piles (day to be decided). Empty the bin to the pile. If you see something that doesn’t belong there (plastic, metal, glass, bones) take them away. Empty the bin with a shovel, that way it’s easier to see if there’s something wrong.
2. Regularly collect garden waste, dry leaves, pine needles, saw dust, wood sticks, small branches etc. (brown waste) and add them to compost pile. When emptying the kitchen waste to the compost pile, make sure that there will be more of this brown material. Even soil can be added.
3. Mix the compost pile thoroughly from the bottom once a week. Mix the kitchen waste with other waste. There must be enough dry material!
4. The compost pile should be a little bit moist at all times – not too dry, not too wet. If it seems too dry, water it a little, if it seems too wet, add more dry material.
5. When one compost pile is full, start another one. The full one needs still to be mixed once a week! This is because otherwise it doesn’t get the air needed.
6. The compost should be ready in two-three months. It is ready when it smells and looks like earth and nothing can be identified.

I also made a document which tells possible problems concerning composting and possible solutions to these problems. That will be given to Li Fengquan as well as some other staff when it’s translated. Well, that’s enough about composting now, all I can say is this is something I’ve never done before and I’m trying my best to make it work. Let’s hope for the best.

Then to the other subject. One of the three kinds of lettuce, the Lollo Rosso lettuce, grew rather successfully and we harvested it’s baby leaves last Saturday. There weren’t more than 500gs of it, but it was enough to make it a part of our daily special salad, “salad with baby greens from our own garden” for some time. It was also used as an ingredient in The Schoolhouse Greens salad. It is highly rewarding to serve our own lettuce as a part of a salad, no matter in how small quantities. Lollo Rosso is a loose kind of lettuce with a bit more bitterness than other sorts of lettuce, some describe it even “nutty”. It has a fairly tender yet crisp texture. It has soft leaves with green colour with purple-red on the curly edges. The name actually comes from a reputable fresh salad source La Veneta based near Venice in the heart of Veneto, Italy. Thus this lettuce is typically Italian and using it gives our restaurant a little bit of nice sophisticated Italian feeling. Lollo Rosso can grow even 20cm wide and it’s a good lettuce to grow here in summery China – it tolerates heat well without bolting, unlike most lettuces. Maybe that’s why it was the most successful lettuce out of the three ones. Lollo Rosso contains antioxidant quercetin, which arguably reduces the risk of heart diseases – once again, serving our own healthy food acts hand in hand with principles of sustainable food.

Today Li Fengquen planted new lettuce and herbs. We are hoping that those ones grow better than the previous ones. Lollo Rosso was planted 5.6.2009 and harvested 6.6.2009 as baby leaves, so in one month we should have more lettuce. On the other hand, it is a “cut and regrow” lettuce and the same lettuce should grow again. Still, we did this wrong, we should’ve planted the new lettuce earlier to guarantee continuous fresh lettuce, but there were some operational problems. However, this is something we can learn from and make strict procedures for coming years. It is my job to write down clear procedures, who does what, when, why, how to document etc. and thus make sure that next year (and the ones after that) this company has a clear program how to make this whole gardening thing as efficient, sustainable and flawless as possible. Again, this is completely new to me, but I’ll surely do my best. When I leave The Schoolhouse, I would like to leave them a program of how to do things regarding sustainable foods.

Oh and one more thing – we moved five kilos of spring onion to grow in our Manger-s house. No we have onions growing there instead of just plain earth, which is great! The spring onion is almost ready to be used as leeks – earlier only the green plant parts were ready to be served, and were served, but anyday now we are going to serve our own leek. Well, that’s it for now, keep tuned and I’ll let you now how everything goes here.

Thanks for your interest,

Pietari