• “I had no idea that without worms I would have no food”
By Coco Sekiya, Intern with Sustainable House
“When I tried composting on the first day, I was overwhelmed by the huge number of flies and worms inside and around the compost. Honestly at first, I was not confident if I could keep doing it every week. “
Hello! My name is Coco Sekiya and I’m going to work with Michael at Sustainable House for this semester.
I’m an exchange student from Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, and studying urban design and the environment at the University of Sydney which is located in Chippendale near the city centre of Sydney.
I’m interested in how people in a community are engaged in urban greening and sustainable practices. In this internship, I’m helping Michael manage compost and coolseats around Chippendale in the city of Sydney, and I’m letting people know about our work through blogs and social media.
The reason I chose Australia for study abroad is not only because I love beautiful nature and friendly people here, but it’s a country working on environmental conservation.
I was born and have spent all my life in Tokyo, Japan, and I had never really seen people gardening around the city. All the experience I had for gardening was growing a tiny flower in a flowerpot when I was in elementary school.
• My home city, Tokyo, Japan
• Typically in Tokyo there are no trees, grass verges or vegetation in the streets
Here are streets where I lived in Tokyo. There are stores densely packed and lots of people passing by.
Growing up in a concrete jungle is what drew me to aspire to live with nature and I came to be interested in bringing green into an urban city. So, one of the reasons I wanted to work with Michael was that I wanted to try city gardening and agriculture that it’s difficult to experience where I live in Japan.
• Chippendale streets have lots of trees and greenery
• Outside Cafe Guilia in Chippendale there are three coolseats for composting and growing plants
Here is Meagher street where I’m composting food waste in three coolseats in Chippendale. There are lines of trees alongside the road, and lots of plants all around the street.
After coming to Sydney, I am impressed by how many trees and parks with grass are right next to the central business district which is just a 15 minute walk away. Every time I walk down the street, I feel that I’m very happy to be able to live and work in this environment.
The second reason is to learn how to use English in work and improve my communication skills. As English is my second language, and I’m still learning it, I’m finding it difficult even to do simple things like buy food, find my way around, and to understand Michael! But I’m sure this experience will help me greatly improve my English and will be an invaluable experience by being in a different culture.
• I’m using the coolseats calculator to measure how much food waste I compost and how much climate pollution I’m preventing
Here’s a screenshot from my coolseats calculator which I find easy to use.
By filling in this chart in the calculator, I can check the amount of food waste I save each day I compost and how much carbon pollution I have avoided, so it helps me to know how much I have contributed to protecting our precious Earth each day.
As everything here is new to me, particularly composting, there was a time that it was hard for me to get used to - I’ve never seen so many bugs.
When I tried composting on the first day, I was overwhelmed by the huge number of flies and worms inside and around the compost. Honestly at first, I was not confident if I could keep doing it every week.
Some compost has a lot of wormy larvae swarming in the waste food but, as Michael says, that is the sign of a good compost to have worms which helps food waste break down faster. I observe that compost with a lot of worms seems to break down very fast and does not smell bad, which is also a good sign of healthy compost.
• Here I am composting; I’m turning an auger into the food waste to bring air into all of it and to speed up the composting process
• There’s a few compost worms eating up the food waste and many small and very tiny bugs turning the food waste back into soil
Before starting composting, I could not imagine how food waste will break down into becoming dark soil but as I continue I’m gradually understanding how it transforms its shape and colour by observing the process of decomposition as I work on the compost in the streets.
• The worms and compost in the photo above were once these bright oranges, celery and other waste food
• We can see the bananas have been added to the compost and soon will look like the compost, too
• Here we see lemons, paper and compost mixed together
I’m briefly summing up next what I learned from Michael about how to maintain composts.
What we need to do first is put food waste (food leftovers, fruit peels, coffee grounds) with paper and cardboard such as egg cartons in the coolseats, and mix it up with an auger.
As it’s very important for compost to be not too dry and not too wet, I usually add some paper to absorb the wetness or add a bucket of water so it keeps the best - warm to hot - temperature to break down to compost.
• In Michael’s hand are the compost heroes we can easily see - the compost worms; many other smaller living creatures also are there that we can’t easily see
After working with compost for my first week, I’ve surprised myself.
I’m starting to feel excited about how much worms are in there and passionate about making good compost.
I now feel and know that food I eat every day is grown with soil that is made up of organic materials such as food waste and paper. I can feel that I am also part of a big cycle of nature and earth.
Coco Sekiya
こんにちは、私は現在日本からシドニー大学に交換留学をしており、Sustainable Houseに住むマイケルさんのもとで、ガーデニングとフードウェイストに関わるインターンを始めました。
マイケルさんはChippendaleというシドニーのオフィス街に隣接する地域で、食品廃棄物から堆肥・土を作る活動をされており、私はそのお手伝いとして主に街中に設置されている“Coolseats”と呼ばれるコンポストの維持管理と、活動についての発信を担当しています。
日本で生まれ育った自分にとって、シドニーでの生活、都市農業は全く新しい体験で、この場所ならではの経験やアイデア、フードウェイストへの取り組みである”Composting”について皆さんに知ってもらえたらいいなと思っています。
また、東京という都会で生活してきた私は、ガーデニングや農業の経験が皆無に等しく、インターン初日にコンポストビンを開けたときに見たとんでもない数のミミズやハエに、正直このインターンを選んだことを少しだけ後悔しました。笑
しかし、これらの虫は堆肥に分解する上でとても重要な役割を担っており、マイケルさんによると、ミミズが多ければそれだけ良い堆肥が作られている証拠なんだそうです。実際一週間もしないうちに虫には慣れ、コンポストビンを開けるたびに今日はどれだけミミズがいるかな、と楽しみにするようになってきました。
ガーデニングを始める前は、あれだけカラフルな食べ物がどのように茶色い土に形を変えるのか、全く想像することができませんでした。しかし何度かやっていくうちに、その変化を観察することができました。
ここで、マイケルさんから教わった堆肥の作り方を簡単に説明したいと思います。
まずフードウェイスト？？(例：食べ残し、果物の皮、コーヒーの出し殻)をビンに入れてaugerと呼ばれるらせん状の道具でかき混ぜていきます。良い堆肥を作るには水分量がとても大切で、その日の状態によって紙を入れて水分を吸収させたり、また乾燥している時には水を足したりと、分解されやすい湿度に調節します。
ガーデニングを始めてみて、私たちが普段食べているものは身の回りの有機物で構成された土をもとに作られており、自分も自然の再生の大きなサイクルの一部にいるということを実感しました。
Coco Sekiya