June 20, 2023 — 10:00 am – 5:00 pmEarly Bird $125.00. After June 4, $150.00.Lunch is included.Location: Appleseed Farm, 549 Kippen Rd, White Lake, ON K0A 3L0Payment etransfer to mark.mackenzie@appleseedlawn.com(Cangro Enterprises Inc.) Garden to large scale: this program suits municipal waste, farmers, compost operators;As well as gardeners, soil lovers and the nature curious REGISTER HERE Join Appleseed Farm for a compost learning adventure Ground breaking research into the soil foodweb is presented by instructors Keisha & Casey Ernst. Go deeper into understanding the life of soil. Learn practical, hands on, techniques useful for a wide range of composting methods, from backyard to large scale. Plus, discover how microscopes improve your…
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Earth day event brings science to the playroom
April 22, 2023 — Madeline Steward and Andrew Torrance led 40 Rideau Lakes children, ages 4-8, on a trial of fungal dominant compost (FDC) for earth day. Our new citizen scientists are conducting an A/B test to see what effects the use of FDC has on plant growth. Reports over the next six weeks will follow. Stay tuned. “Rideau Lakes children at the event were between the ages of 0-8 years old, I would say that the kids participating were between 4-8 years old. We will hopefully be receiving some results by May 20th! Fingers crossed!! I will keep you posted on the submissions we get and we can decide from there…
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Opening a bioreactor, a process analysis, the launch of BMAP
Brenden Brown of the Illinois University asked “how to do you open the bioreactors and what processes do you use to protect the fungal hyphae?” I didn’t have an answer, so I asked Scott Hortop, our compost wizard. Turns out Scott opens the side of the bioreactor, shovels the fungal rich compost into a wheelbarrow and then runs it through a hammer mill to create a soft and fluffy material. It is then stored in 11 liter ice cream buckets. The lid receives slits so some air is available. Is this the right idea? Is there a way to enhance the effectiveness of the compost by treating it in a…
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Early science education worksheet
Young scientist worksheet now available Its four weeks of “magic soil” fun suitable for classroom use. Thanks to Madeline Seward who created the project. Click to view the full project. Its in .png format. Educator? We’re still working out how to get the FDC to educators, so for now, if you’d like to run a workshop for kids, contact us through our contact page. Probably best if you can pick up in Newboro/Perth or Almonte. Grandkids? If you’d like to try the program with your grandkids, please order one of the FDC kits in our store and download and print the instructions. We will mail you the FDC. Pick up…
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2022 fungal dominant compost record — 24 full bioreactors and 400 bags of leaves readied for 2024
Scott and his team did an amazing job this fall. 24 bioreactors. 24! That’s over 400 bags of leaves now on a journey to 2024 use. 400 bags were also used for two new field improvement experiments. Can anyone count the number of bioreactors full and composting? Can anybody see Scott in the middle there? Congratulation to Scott and his amazing team. Well done all!
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MicroBiometers now available … get the tech that ONfungi uses to measure soil carbon and fungi to bacteria ratio
Kits shipping now This microBIOMETER® Starter Kit estimates microbial biomass and fungal to bacterial ratio with a smartphone app. The kit includes supplies for 10 soil tests and comes in a sturdy, reusable box. Included: Shipping Policy Free shipping across Canada.Note: only available for Canadian shipping. Free APP does all the work The app helps you time the test, offers a guide and tutorials, stores your data collected as well as taking the measurements. A MicroBiometer reliably tests your farming and gardening methods MicroBiometers are a new tool that measures soil carbon and fungi to bacteria ratios. These tests give you indicators of soil health and allow you to track…
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Community Garden starts first row of ONfdc beans
July 8, 2022 — Update from South Lanark Community Garden The SLCG has partnered with ONfungi representative Kelvin Hodges to grow some plants inoculated with the fungi inoculant that they make in their reactors. The SLCG has installed 4 of their bioreactors to create fungi inoculated compost for the garden. Our Youth Community Garden Program has inoculated and planted 3 varieties of bush beans to see how they perform in comparison to non-inoculated control beans of the same varieties. To our amazement the inoculated beans have emerged first. Their progress will be monitored throughout the growing season. Pictured are some of the youth and Coral Sproule of the Table Community…
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Building a small backyard bioreactor
While ONfungi’s Scott Hortop is the wizard of compost with his large bioreactors, there’s room for smaller bioreactors. In today’s post, ONfungi’s Kelvin Hodges builds a simple home bioreactor. For the inoculate see our shop here. Buy your bioreactor starter kit here. Remember, the bioreactor inoculate kit greatly improves your fdc by introducing a large fungal spore range right from day one. Kelvin’s bioreactor build Hi everyone, for my home bioreactor build I started with some basic 1×2″ wire mesh fencing from a local hardware store. I used tin snips to cut the mesh into two pieces. One piece would be for the main bioreactor and the second piece was…
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April 23rd ONfungi talks and shows!
Thank you for all the visits and friendly joy! Saturday, April 23, ONfungi’s Scott Hortop and Kelvin Hodges were at the Kemptville Sustainability Fair. We had hundreds of avid gardeners and nature lovers of all ages come by. Stories were told. ONfungi FDC was given out — by donation: and we raised over 110 dollars, not including coins and US dollars! We also sent more than 50 packages of FDC along with promises to try some citizen science out into the world. Huzzah. Many young people discovered a new way to act on the climate. Many moms and dads got new garden ideas. Many grandma and grandpa’s found a new…
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Will soil regeneration improve plant nutrient density?
The study authors are asking for citizen scientists to help confirm these findings. Well, that’s what ONfungi is doing in 2022 already. So please. Join in. Make a real difference with science! One of the key experimental cycles for ONfungi in 2022 is looking at how ONfdc (fungal dominant compost) can work with other soil-building techniques — such as minimal plowing (no till), cover crops, and diverse crop planting — to improve plant nutrient density. In fact, we have been able to purchase a refractometer to measure plant nutrition thanks to our 2021 ONfungi citizen science supporters! In the article “Farms following soil-friendly practices grow heatlhier food” we see that…
