Muck & Brass: Getting Our Hands Dirty

Our worm wrangler was worn out speaking to dozens of curious people about recycling coffee waste into high-grade fertiliser!

The bins are working well. The worms are in. And we've started doing what we said we'd do.

It's early days—this is a pilot, after all—but the composting collective at St Margaret's is up and running. We've got our vermicomposting bins set up and the coffee grounds and spent mycellium are already working their way through. We've also expanded into the vermiculture windrow method to handle greater volumes and to accomodate our garden partners. We're having great conversations with our users and partners, figuring out the rhythm of who does what and how we keep this thing going once the funding period ends. That community governance piece was always central to the application, and it's genuinely happening: not a boardroom, just people deciding how this runs.

We've also started the outreach. A few weeks back our Worm Wrangler spent the afternoon talking to dozens of visitors, giving impromptu tours, explaining what the worms actually do and why it matters. A lot of people had never seen a working vermicomposting system up close. A few asked if they could do something similar at home. One or two wanted to know if we'd come to their community group. That's the kind of conversation we want: not selling anything, just showing what's possible and seeing who bites.

We're also testing our outreach stand ahead of a sustainability festival this summer. The idea is a simple, portable setup that explains the circular loop—waste in, compost out, food grown, people fed. We'll report back on how that goes.

Behind the scenes, we're reaching out to possible connections in the wider city. Too early to say much there, but the conversations are happening. Probation referrals conversations continue but slow and careful is the watchword here. We've had our first couple of sessions with people on community payback, showing them the bins, the route, the basics of what we're asking. Some are interested in the worm side of things. Others just want to get the job done and move on. Both are fine. The point is the door's open, and we're seeing who walks through it.

The evaluation is booked in for later in the year. We'll have more to say by then about what's working, what's shifting, and what we've had to abandon. For now, it's enough that the worms are eating, the bins are warm, and people are showing up.