I Got an email from my friend Nancy Block, who lives on the far south side of Chicago. She and her husband Mike are master gardeners who have taken it upon themselves to start collecting eco waste from the Intelligentsia¹s Chicago Roasting Works & Training Lab at 1850 W. Fulton.

“Mike & I show up every Thursday morning to fill our mini- van with 100 to 200 burlap bags, 20 bags of used coffee grounds, 6 to 12 bags of wonderful coffee chaff, and about 50 clear plastic bags. Everything is pre-bagged, and our van smells wonderful on the way home.”

The uses of the coffee detritus are many, explains Nancy. “The burlap bags can be used as groundcover instead of black plastic, and burlap can be used in hanging baskets instead of coco fiber. After you mow your grass & leaves, put them in a burlap bag, let them decompose all winter, and you can grow small vegetables in them in the spring. We have found if you use coffee grounds around your hostas, you don't see slugs. Amazing...Coffee chaff is like gold. Worms love it, and you can mix it in your container soil instead of perlite.”

Nancy writes that she and Mike would like more people to join them. If interested, contact Nancy at nancyblock09@att.net   

—Carolyn Ulrich