We decided that for our 4 Days in May project, and our
action project, we would create a Greenhouse and Composting System for NVHS. We thought this would be a good thing to do because,
after we are all gone from NVHS, future students would have a CE or Workshop
that focused on the concepts of composting and growing that a greenhouse could
provide.

In order to set up this resource, however, we had to do a
lot of legwork in the community. We
contacted professional growers and gathered their advice on what kind of
greenhouse to build and what type of operation to run. The following are some of the people we spoke
with:

· We met with Growing Gardens, a community gardening
project and facility in Northern Boulder. They were very helpful in explaining to us
the different types of greenhouses and composting systems.

· We also met with Cyndra Deitz, Eco-Cycle’s
School Recycling and Environmental Education Program Director, who instructed
us what type of composting system would work best for the scale of our project
as well as the potential future applications of our program.

· Boulder Compost Company owner and operator Eric
Simenson was kind enough to share his knowledge of “vermiposting,” which is
composting using the help of worms. He
brought in some bins to demonstrate the process, and he also gave us a great
plan for building our own worm composting bin and system.

· Bryce Brown, founder of Our Love of Children Foundation,
spoke to us about the project at Creekside Elementary where the school garden
is used to augment school lunch for students. He shared visions of what a school garden could grow into and got us all
very excited to continue our project.

In addition to speaking to professionals in the community,
we also were given a huge amount of support from local businesses interested in
our project.

· ReSource, a sustainable building supplier using
recycled construction and building materials, donated ANY materials we could
find in their yard for absolutely FREE. This was really great and it made us see that some businesses really do
practice what they preach.

· McGuckins Hardware was very supportive in their
donation of $120 of building supplies towards the creation of our greenhouse
and composting system. Again, we were
surprised by these local businesses’ belief in our action project.

Ultimately, we spent over seven weeks getting the logistics
together so that this greenhouse could be built. It is with great enthusiasm that we are
passing on this project to future CAP classes and look forward to seeing the
structure up and running soon!