Hi Jessica,
I was a garden educator at the first Garden to Cafeteria school in Hawai'i and you can find attached
our G2C plan and procedures. Note the section below (pg 31). Your state guidelines may be different, so I would refer to your local F2S/G2C specialist or manual.
Purpose: To provide effective and safe application of soil amendments while minimizing microbial hazards.
Responsibility: Animal manures and other soil amendments are a potential source of human pathogens, which can contaminate the soil and persist for many years.
Procedure: Soil amendments are defined as substances being added to soil to enhance the health and life of the soil. For use in the G2C Program, all soil amendments must be either a purchased amendment or if produced on site must be produced and handled in ways consistent with best management practices for reducing the risk of contamination to crop production areas and water sources. All soil amendments regardless of their origin, must be entered into the Soil Amendment Log including information on the type of amendment, dosage and the location of the garden where it is being added. Logs and proper documentation for all amendments must be retained in the G2C Binder.
So in Hawai'i, manure can be added if it is properly processed or purchased commercially. Another option we used in our garden is fish fertilizer, which provides similar benefits. Our cafeteria was also responsible for the sanitization of the garden produce, which we pre-washed before delivering.
There is also interesting guidance in the HI G2C plan about vermicomposting, which you could do on site.
Happy composting!
Lliy
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Lily Nguyen
KidsGardening
Education Specialist
lilyn@kidsgardening.org------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 08-02-2021 06:23:20 PM
From: Jessica Eves
Subject: Compost with Manure
Hi Everyone,
I have sourced my compost from a few different places in San Diego. I recently just found out about a place call San Pasqual Valley Soils that has compost with cow manure in it. On their website it says their, "composts are processed in strict accordance with state regulations, including a PFRP (Process to Further Reduce Pathogens) phase, ensuring both pathogens and weed seeds are destroyed."
However, our local school district says that if we want to participate in their Garden to Cafe program (where food grown in the garden is served in our school cafeteria) we can't use compost with manure in it.
They say this protocol follows guidelines by SD County Department of Environmental Health to assure safe food and garden handling.
This I am fine with because we give our excess harvest to our families.
However, my main question is:
if the cow manure is commercially composted, is it safe to use in school gardens?
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Jessica Eves
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