100% of our coffee chaff, which is a by-product from the coffee roasting process, is now used creatively by the lovely Carissa from The Purple Pea, who grows seedlings for sale at many of Melbourne's Farmers' Markets.
She has created a special compost mix for her seedlings which includes the chaff, amongst a number of other natural compost materials. The chaff helps bind the compost together to form a natural soil casing around the plant - without the need for a pot.
Here is a link to The Purple Pea's Facebook Page regarding the chaff re-use project.
It's fantastic to see farmers' market stallholders (and customers) working together to use each other's products, and in this case by-products. In addition to coffee chaff, all of our hessian bags are collected and re-used by Carissa, the Collingwood Children's Farm or other stallholders and customers for a range of uses. We are also looking for people who would like to collect clean spent coffee grounds - as we always have a surplus left over and there is only so much that our local community and school gardens can use.
You can visit Carissa and see her lovely plants this Saturday at the Collingwood Children's Farm Farmers' Market.
Cheers, Mark and the Eureka Coffee / Growers Espresso Team