Jagger Clapsadle tells his story of learning to compost and grow food in the streets of Sydney, NSW
My First Week as an Intern with Sustainable House
Hello! My name is Jagger Clapsadle.
I am an intern working with Michael Mobbs of Sydney’s Sustainable House and Coolseats for the semester. I am a third-year college student from Ocean City, Maryland in the United States. I am working towards a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, and I am very passionate about sustainability. Having just started my internship on September 19th, I am very new to this line of work, and I am excited to share my experiences and knowledge gained from this internship in just a short period of time.
Day 1
I learned a great deal on my first day of working with Michael. Our day started off at 6 am in the suburb of Curl Curl at Curly’s on the Corner Cafe. It’s on the northern beaches of Sydney.
We were there to install the first coolseat on the Northern Beaches! On the drive over, I cut forearm lengths of the recycled coffee hessian sacks to use as wicks for the WaterUps wicking cells. These store water below ground where it’s more available to the roots of the plants above, and reduce watering by up to 80%.
My first task once we arrived (and after the cafe had generously served us breakfast) was to dig two small trenches next to some cherry trees that are planted on the sidewalk near the café. Michael showed me how to use the pick to break up the soil, for the trenches, which I had never done before. (Tip: let the pick do the work by sliding my hand up the handle so the speed and weight of the pick does the work - not my back, and don’t hold the hand fixed on the handle. It’s half the effort for twice the speed.)
The trench was then filled in with the WaterUps sub irrigation channel cells to help the cherry trees get more water to its roots. We put hessian sacks over the wicking beds then soil on top so the street verge is still level and easy to walk on. Once the trenches were dug and the wicking cells were in, I covered it with soil, and then sugarcane mulch on top. Rain falling on the road verge will now get to the plant roots and no longer run off, wasted, to the road and then to the nearby sea. Michael also showed me how he pruned the cherry trees. He explained that by cutting off dying branches, the healthy branches will receive more sunlight and have a better chance at survival.
• Digging the trenches wasn’t easy work- but it was worth it
• L to R: John Fry, Karen Booth - who with another local, Linda Wong, arranged the whole project - Michael in the trench I dug, me on the shovel, little fruit tree needing the water
Next, it was time to focus my attention on installing the Coolseat.
Michael and his business partner, John Fry from Bathurst - a city about 3 hours drive inland from Sydney, had begun to set up the tank whilst I dug the trenches.
The coolseat bench was levelled out and I started to fill it with soil as the base of the garden! During this process, I was assisted by Karen Booth and Linda Wong, who had first contacted Michael about the installation - they are community rockstars and go to the cafe almost every day. It was their idea to end the food waste at the cafe. They helped me to get a wheelbarrow to help move the soil I’d dug up for the two trenches and were there to assist in the installation process.
I talked to several members of the community who walked by - whether it was a passerby or a café patron. It was amazing to see the community inquiring about the process or actively involved in it themselves- something I see very little of back home in the US! I could already tell the coolseat was bringing people together in the best way possible - they were making a positive change not only for their community but the street environment, the cafe’s business by cutting their waste bill and providing a seat for anyone to sit on.
Michael informed me that throwing away just 3 kg of food waste we humans put 23 kg of carbon dioxide emissions into Earth’s air. By installing this coolseat, we are reducing a massive portion of Curly’s carbon pollution.
The installation took about 2.5 hours- and it was no easy task. But at the end of the day, it was rewarding work for me as I know the good that will come of it on the Northern Beaches area.
• We finished our morning work with some delicious fresh juice from Curly’s café
• The first coolseat on the Northern Beaches was finally installed
Day 2
For my second day of interning with Michael next on the agenda was to get a layout of all the coolseats, compost bins, and worm farms in Chippendale and how to maintain them to get healthy compost.
There are about 15 on the streets, which I will soon be adding to a comprehensive list that is put on a map for all to access in that suburb, whether residents or businesses.
I had little knowledge of composting beforehand (only that my grandfather did it for his gardens back home) but Michael ran me through the whole process and how I can best maintain each bin.
We started by going to the rotating compost bin just outside of his house on Myrtle Street in Chippendale. It is a 120 litre compost bin that doesn’t need to be augured- just stirred by rotating it 2-3 times on its hinges. After a quick stir, he showed me the ho-mi - a Korean hand digging gardening tool that we used to help scoop out some of the compost to transfer to another bin. Then we moved to the worm farm directly next to one of the compost bins. It is small in size, and breaks down food waste very slowly, so should only be checked about every six weeks or so. It is made up of 3-6 layers with small filters below each layer so that the lowest layer is comprised of fully broken down compost- or as Michael referred to as “liquid black gold”. We transferred it to a small garden bed nearby with garlic plants that were looking a little sad- this healthy compost should do the job in bringing it plenty of nutrients and hopefully restore them back to healthy plants for the community to utilize!
• “Liquid black gold” … compost with liquid that is perfect for plants that need a little boost! We used the Ho-mi to scrape out the compost
Michael and I walked to each compost bin, equipped with a compost auger - a tool for mixing compost - and Ho-mi to stir the compost into soil and gardens. It was my first time using the auger, but I caught on quick and was an expert in no time. I was surprised at all the fresh food scraps from each bin that had been placed there that day- the community was actively composting large amounts of food waste every day! About 50 litres of kilos of food waste was in the rotating compost bin.
This is not commonplace back home in any sense, but it was exciting for me to see a community actively doing their part in reducing their food waste and carbon pollution and turning the food waste into fertilizer for the road gardens. Sometimes people put the paper scraps or food waste haphazardly tossed on top of the hessian sacks rather than shredded paper or placed underneath the sacks but that’s not a big deal. it was still great to see people doing what they can do to help. It made me feel good to do my part to help evenly mix the compost for the community and spread healthy compost around the garden beds to help the plants grow.
Day 3
The next day of my internship brought much more educational opportunities and an inspiring story that I’d like to share.
Michael was contacted by a nearby Chippendale resident who mentioned he wanted to learn more about the neighborhood’s gardening initiatives, and I was asked to show him around to some of them. Michael’s new neighbour, David, had moved from the country on a 10-acre property with plenty of land for gardening which he enjoyed thoroughly. However, after moving to the city to be closer to his kids, he decided to see what he could do in order to be actively involved in gardening, despite a major downsize in space to do so. He was met with Michael’s contact information from a sign next to one of the neighborhood’s Coolseats! This is how he was able to inquire about the roadside gardens and was able to meet the two of us and visit the house. David was thrilled to learn about the city council’s ordinances that allows anyone to have gardens on the street paths. It was quite inspirational to see someone taking an initiative to find like-minded people within the community, and he certainly came to the right place! This is just one example of the many ways that urban gardening can bring people together.
• Shown above is a beautiful Nasturtium plant along one of Chippo’s many roadside gardens. It is a wonderful addition to many recipes - a peppery taste and the flower has very sweet honey in it; keep reading to see how I used it
At the end of the day, Michael sent me home with some harvest from the road gardens. I took mint leaves, parsley, lemongrass (great for tea, and other infusions) and nasturtium leaves, a peppery plant great for salads, stir fry, or even scrambled with eggs in the morning.
It made me appreciative of the work this community does here in Sydney, and proud of the work that I get to do for the rest of the semester. In the spirit of urban gardening, I decided to go home and use the lovely array of herbs and veggies that I collected that day. I cut up my lemongrass and threw it in a bottle of Gin to be infused for about a week. It made for some amazing cocktails on the weekend! I also used the nasturtium leaves and petals to toss with my salad mix, and used the mint, lemongrass and parsley as a base for my dressing, along with basil, apple cider vinegar and olive oil that I purchased from the market. The salad was delicious, and it gave me an even greater sense of accomplishment knowing that I sourced most of my ingredients straight from Chippendale’s roadside gardens!
• Seeing that I am by no means a decent cook … if I can do it, anyone can! See below for the dressing recipe
Michael prompted me to take note of how I felt before and after I started my day or work with him, as he usually feels a sense of accomplishment and fulfilment after doing such work. At first, I wasn’t sure of how he meant that, but by the end of the day, I knew exactly what he meant. The work that I was doing (and that I continue to do) is highly fulfilling and left me with a sense of long-lasting gratitude and happiness for the rest of the day.
I hope you continue along with my internship journey, and I am excited to continue to write about my education for the rest of the semester.
Jagger Clapsadle
Recipe Inspiration:
https://homegrownhappiness.co.nz/green-herb-salad-dressing/
https://www.yummly.com/recipe/Salad-with-Nasturtium-Petals-1897625