Aeron Novotny scooped up two handfuls of dirt. In one hand, the soil was a reddish brown with worms wriggling through it. In the other, the soil was a brown so rich and deep it was almost black.
“This is basically worm poop,” he said of the second handful.
He called it “black gold.” The worm byproduct is prized as a cheap, effective fertilizer.
“Using that in your garden is going to help your plants uptake nutrients, and it's going to help keep them pest-free for the most part, disease-free for the most part,” he said.
Novotny is executive director and co-founder of Community Farmers, a nonprofit in Norfolk that launched in January. The nonprofit’s mission is to educate people about gardening and install more community gardens in the region.
“We want to teach people to grow their own food so they're able to really take the power into their own hands, especially with the cost of groceries right now,” he said.
Food costs are rising. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the cost of fruits and vegetables have risen 6% in the last year.
Tomatoes alone cost nearly 50% more this April compared to last April.
Knox Presbyterian Church in Norfolk’s Colonial Place partnered with Community Farmers to expand its community garden from two garden beds to four.
Stuart Nesbit, a pastor at the church, said the goal is to provide neighbors with fresh produce throughout the year.
“If you put food in the food pantry that's sitting right over there on the corner, it'll be gone in 30 minutes, because there's such a need right here,” he said.
‘Farm the soil’
Novotny said gardening can help combat food insecurity, but education is critical.
Take tomatoes, for example. Novotny said they grow like weeds and are a good plant for novice gardeners. But the type of tomato matters.
“This area gets really humid, it gets really hot,” he said.
Choosing plants cultivated for the local climate is an important first step. The next step is giving the plants what they need to flourish.
“Maybe they're not putting that tomato in full sunlight, or maybe they're giving it too much nitrogen, so it's producing more leafy greens instead of the fruit itself,” Novotny said. “It could be they started it too late (or) started it too early.”
He said the biggest mistakes he sees people make are overwatering their plants and ignoring the soil.
“Nothing's going to grow in soil that's depleted of nutrients,” he said.
Novotny keeps his worms – red wigglers – in a five-gallon bucket with holes drilled in the bottom for drainage. He soaks coconut coir, the fibers from the outer husk, in water and adds that as the base for the worms to slither through. The worms can break down about a pound of fruit and vegetable scraps a week, depending on the temperature, number of worms and how broken down the scraps already are.
“Something that I like to do to make them eat more, faster, and then increase the population, is I'll put all my scraps in a blender, and I'll blend it up for them,” he said. “They'll be able to eat through that very fast.”
Novotny said he limits the amount of citrus he adds and avoids adding meat and dairy to the pile.
Another cost-effective way Novotny adds nutrients to plants is by making his own banana tea fertilizer. He throws banana peels in a jar, fills it with water and lets it ferment for a couple days.
“That brings out a lot of phosphorus and potassium, which are essential nutrients,” he said.
He dilutes one part banana water with 10 parts water before watering the plants with it.
Novotny said the nonprofit will host more workshops in the upcoming months and install more gardens in the city based on community feedback.
