Al Cairo prepares shredded garden waste and fills the Johnson-Su composting bioreactor at Woodcock Garden. (Photo courtesy of Al Cairo)

Al Cairo prepares shredded garden waste and fills the Johnson-Su composting bioreactor at Woodcock Garden. (Photo courtesy of Al Cairo)

Green Thumbs series to consider composting in time of climate change

PORT ANGELES — Al Cairo, who built a Johnson-Su Bioreactor along with help from like-minded Master Gardeners in 2018 and 2019 at the Woodcock Demonstration Garden in Sequim, will present “Fungal Dominant Composting in this Time of Climate Change” at noon on Thursday on Zoom.

Cairo’s presentation is part of the Green Thumbs Garden Tips education series and will examine today’s critical climate reality and how gardeners can actively participate in drawing down atmospheric carbon dioxide.

He will inform attendees about the soil food web and how to build and use the Johnson-Su Composting Bioreactor to create a fungal-dominant compost. This knowledge will allow gardeners to use alternative strategies to grow crops, eliminate chemical inputs, plowing and tilling, event organizers said.

For the Zoom link, visit the WSU Clallam County Extension website at extension.wsu.edu/clallam. To join by phone, call 253-215-8782 (meeting ID 951 3978 9694, passcode 791808).

Cairo earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences with a concentration in optical methods and biotechnology from State University of New York.

He worked for 27 years at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo and 13 years at Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Celera Diagnostics and Quest Diagnostics in San Francisco’s East Bay area, in various fields including tissue culture virology, electron microscopy, automated DNA synthesis and sequencing and liquid handling robotics.

Sponsored by WSU Clallam County Master Gardeners, the Green Thumbs Garden Tips education series seeks to provide home gardeners with education on research-based sustainable garden practices in Clallam County.

The series is offered via streaming presentations from noon to 1 p.m. the second and fourth Thursday of each month through October. Scheduled presentations are subject to change.

For more information, call 360-565-2679.

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