Build and Take Home a Johnson-Su Composting Bioreactor: 

Compost More Materials and Help Your Plants

**Change of location**

Pata Viva Farm - 625 Loomis Rd

Cost: $15-20, Bioreactor Included

At this workshop, you can build and take home a Johnson-Su Composting Bioreactor! This composting system, developed by local scientists Dr. David Johnson and Hui-Chun Su Johnson, is entirely aerobic, so it doesn’t need to be turned, saving a lot of time and mess. In additional benefits, the bioreactor cultivates aerobic microbes that can process meats and dairy products without odor or pest issues, and the aerobic microbes that grow in the compost are the same microbes that grow in the top several inches of healthy soils—microbes that have, in many cases, established deeply symbiotic relationships with plants. In greenhouse and field trials, the microbes in the compost have been found to improve seed germination rates when used to coat seeds, improve soil water infiltration and water retention by helping to increase soil carbon content, and increase plant health, plant growth rates, and crop production.

All of the materials and tools you’ll need are provided, and a Johnson-Su Composting Bioreactor is included in the price of registration: for a bioreactor two feet in diameter and two feet tall, registration is $20; and for a bioreactor one foot in diameter and one foot tall, registration is $15. If you want additional bioreactors, the materials for a two-foot version are available for $15, and materials for a 1-foot version are available for $10.

The workshop is facilitated by Jon Simmons, president of Las Cruces Seed Share, and Pat DeSimio, team member for the MESA Project.

If you would like to learn more about the full-scale Johnson-Su Bioreactors from which the bioreactors at this workshop have been adapted, visit https://mesanm.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/johnson-su-composting-bioreactor-technical-manual-version-1.pdf.

**Change of location**

Pata Viva Farm - 625 Loomis Rd

Due to a delay with City inspections, our workshop has moved to Pata Viva Farm.

There is road construction on the way to Pata Viva Farm, and Doña Ana Road is closed just north of Three Crosses Road. To reach Pata Viva Farm, you’ll want to take either N Valley Drive or Solano Drive.  Directions for both routes are below.

A: From Valley Drive

Head north on Valley Drive

Turn right onto Engler Road

In 0.8 miles, turn left onto Doña Ana Road

After 0.7 miles, turn left onto Loomis Road

Pata Viva Farm is on the left

B: From Solano Drive

Head north on N Solano Drive

Turn left onto El Camino Real Road

After 1.4 miles, turn left onto Armstrong Road

In 0.4 miles, turn right onto Doña Ana Road

In 0.7 miles, turn left on Loomis Road

Pata Viva Farm is on the left