Hello world.
Greetings.
My name is Kevin Gamble and I’m the Lead Dirt Grub at Wildcat Compost.
I’ve been composting for the better part of 10 years. I also teach about composting in one of my courses at Appalachian State University, where I work in the Department of Sustainable Technology & The Built Environment. I’m a compost geek. Be it tumblers, windrows, or bins; worms, grubs, or black soldier flies; bokashi, anaerobic digestion, or brewing aerated compost tea, I’m interested in it all. Basically, I’m interested in anything that can help convert organic “waste” (I’ll go on a whole rant in another post later about how waste as a noun has no room in our vocabulary) into materials for improving soil fertility.
I’ll keep this first post short and sweet, as it’s purely an introduction. On this site you’re going to find a number of things:
An ongoing blog of my composting activities and research interests (and probably some some soapbox rants along the way
A portfolio of compost-related projects I am involved with, past, present, and future. From composting at my homestead, to work-related research.
Education opportunities. I’m a teacher at heart (and professionally) and I hope for this site to serve as a one-stop shop for all things compost-related. I’m no master, I learn more everyday about how little I truly know, and I want to share with others this passion for learning. Plus it might help some of y’all reduce your waste and improve your crop yields!
Consultation. Given my years of studying and working with compost, I’d love to share this knowledge with the community, whether it’s helping plan a composting system for a single-family home, a small-farm, a community garden, or a school, I would love nothing more than to help grow a vibrant, decentralized composting infrastructure.
So, it’s kind of a lot now that I’m reading through this list, and it’s gonna be slow-going at first, so bear with me and stay tuned!
Last note: if you’re wondering about the name “Wildcat Compost” you can thank the little bugger pictured above. After a pretty major flood event at my wife and I’s homestead, that little wildcat cub showed up and was immediately drawn to my compost system. After 10-15 minutes of playing around, climbing on the tumblers and bins and playing “ruler of the compost” (and killing a chicken) we set a live trap with some tuna bait and safely returned the little brat across the stream and back up into the forest. So, in honor of that cute little rascal, I bring you: “Wildcat Compost.”
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