It's been a few weeks since my last NatureMill update. The main reason for this is that I've had little positive to report.

Since restarting the machine in February after our holidays I've not been able to get it working 'as advertised'.

There are 2 issues, the main one being the smell. While most of the time the machine does not smell, boy does it pong when you put something in. The other problem is condensation which results in wet compost and gets into the air filter, which possibly contributes to making the smell worse.

I've contacted the NatureMill guys in the USA for guidance on several occasions, but the response is much same each time "Add more sawdust and baking soda". Just to be sure I've reset the machine, started the 'cultures' from fresh with soil from the garden and left it to settle for a week with out adding food.

According to the instructions you need to add 2 tablespoons of baking soda and a couple of hand fulls of sawdust at the start of each compost batch. I'm adding sawdust and baking soda pretty much every other time we add waste. As there are just 2 of us we don't produce much, adding mostly bread, some peelings or veg that's gone over in the fridge. With light use compared to a family the extra sawdust and soda seems a little excessive, and worse seems to make no difference.

We have produced a few batches of compost, but it looks nothing like the compost in the NatureMill video. It's wet and I'd be loathed to put my hands in it. I've been adding it to my garden compost bins to kick start the grass clippings but it's too early to say if it helps.

All in all at $300 the NatureMill has been disappointing. I'll carry on using it, as the smell is not too much of a problem in our Veranda (and I can't very well ship it back to the states) but I could not recommend having one in a kitchen or small apartment. In our experience the pong will be too much !

Before the NatureMill arrived we used a low-tech solution, a mini bin from Ikea. The lid seems airtight, there were no smells, and it held our green waste until the weekend when I added it to the garden compost bin. Best of all it offers a saving of $290 over a NatureMill

Lot's of cooked food waste ? Buy Chickens ?

Top golfers use 'stepping stones' !

Watching BBC Breakfast over my toast and coffee the other morning, the program switched into sports mode with an interview with Justin Rose the top English golfer competing in the US Masters.

Justin, currently ranked top European and 9th in the World was being interviewed about his excellent start to the event, topping the leader board after the 1st day.

During the interview he described how winning major tournaments such as the US Masters was his long term career goal and how he has broken this goal down into smaller goals, winning specific tournaments of increasing importance.

I nearly choked on my coffee when he described these intermediate goals as 'stepping stones'. This is exactly the same way as I describe the goal setting process to my skiing clients and on my web site.

The idea is to break down a 'big' goal into smaller, more achievable sub goals (or stepping stones) which lead you towards the 'big' one. These stepping stones cover not just outcomes or results but also incorporate elements such as technique, equipment, fitness, tactics or psychology depending on your relative position to your 'big' goal.

Justin was also using the 'stepping stone' idea to manage the possibility of not winning at the Masters. During the interview he stated that he still had a few steps to go before he expected to win events such as the Masters - not that it wouldn't be nice. This meant he could try his best for the win without too much self imposed pressure, as should he loose, he still had his pre planned 'stepping stones' which will lead him to success.

The great thing for skiers everywhere is that this approach is not confined to top level sports people but available to everyone. Start now - decide what your 'big' goal is and take it from there !

Focus and Concentration in skiing

Snow, Sky, Snow, Crash. It had been going so well, I was just 2 gates from the end of a GS race course.

The race in question being part of the qualification process for a ski instructor licence. The idea is to ski the GS course within a percentage time set by a pro ski racer. You get 2 go's and the best time counts. The first run was going fantastically and a few gates from the end I found myself thinking "bloody hell, I've nearly done this, just let it be over!"

The next thing I knew, it was. I'd crashed head over heals trying to make the the penultimate gate, so it was back to the top for a final go. I knew I could do it as I'd still got several seconds in hand while recovering after the crash. The second run started 'so so' and I found myself on wrong the line through the 'easy' top gates. This wasn't going well . . . . . . .

The thing is, 'technically' I was easily capable of skiing the course within the time required. My equipment was good and I had the right tactics worked out for the course but my 'head' was not so good. It was not a confidence issue or a problem dealing with the 'pressure', but the lack of concentration & focus. Prior to the crash I had switched my focus from skiing the correct line through the gates to "just finishing" and at the start of the second run I wasn't focused at all, "just skiing".

This is a problem for many recreational skiers (and participents of other sports) when they encounter tricker slopes or challenging conditions:

• A good friend and fellow coach often comments that when he's skiing powder his run goes really well, up until the point he thinks "I can't believe how well this is going" at which point he takes a fall !
• During one of my race training runs I was surprised by an unexpected shadow on the course (it was immediately after lunch). I thought "ah, I'm going into shadow - this could be tricky" and promptly missed the next gate as a result. Doh !
• More randomly I once found myself circulating Oulton Park race circuit on a 250cc race bike thinking "I wonder what's for tea" !!!!

As well as being intrusive and changing your focus, these thoughts often have negative connotations: 

• When things ate going well, the idea forms that your performance would normally be 'worse'.
• I may not finish the race or loose the game.
• This is going to be hard or tricky. 
• or just not paying attention.

Luckily once you become aware of this type of thought it's easy to recognise. When they do pop up it's simply a case re focusing on the task to hand. The line through gates in case of my race or linking the next turns together for my powder friend. It worked for me in my race test, and I finished 5th and made the time.

 

Well, the second batch of NatureMill compost is on my vegetable patch waiting to the dug in.

Unfortunately I had to start the NatureMill from scratch after our recent holiday. While we were away the unit was accidentally switched off which put a stop to the composting Bactria as the machine cooled down. On our return I reset the NatureMill and started from scratch, but keeping the existing batch half composted waste in the machine. The result was a second batch of compost which was quite wet.

I've got high hopes for the next batch and having re-read the instructions I've done a couple of things which should improve the performance of the machine:

* Added far more Sawdust (bought from a petshop) and Baking Soda to keep the optimum balance for the composting Bactria to offset the Bread, Lettuce, Citrus fruit & Potato combination of food we've been feeding the NatureMill.

* Leveled the machine to offset the uneven floor in our pantry and ensure the NatureMill Drains correctly.

A little history !

Russ Cohn, inventor and developer of NatureMill started the NatureMill indoor composting project back in 2003. The product has been evolving and improving ever since. Here is an interview with back in 2004 giving an overview of the early development and testing process:

www.howtocompost.org/naturemill.asp


A year later Russ did a follow-up in interview explaining how initial customer feedback led the development of the NatureMill :

www.howtocompost.org/naturemill05.asp

The photo on the page shows the old "mark 1" machine which is quite different to the current design.

I was recently asked to give some feedback to a couple of fellow instructors.

The first is planning to take their next instructing qualification and wanted a view on their current 'technical' level while the second asked for my thoughts after shadowing his Carving workshop for ski school clients.

Watching both Instructors was thought provoking and hopefully proved very positive for everybody concerned.

One thing that struck me during the week is the importance for Instructors to be able to match the best available slope to the learner skiers ability and the skiing activity planned. This is a fundamental skill for an instructor and is based on the ability to accurately judge the many variables involved, and is a key to a positive outcome for their clients.

The impact of these decisions for skiers in early the stages of learning is even more critical, and is complicated by the lift & piste combinations available in the resort. There are plenty of anecdotes about instructors who have pushed their clients too hard, too soon with negative results. A good instructor will not be afraid to return to easier slopes if need be.

Some resorts are extremely learner friendly and offer an excellent progression of slopes for beginners. Pila in the Aosta Valley Italy and Baqueira in Spanish Pyrenees are excellent resorts offering good piste progression giving lots of options for Instructors and skiers alike.

I found myself unexpectedly taking a class last week in the Pyrenees. The group was a Mother and 3 kids, the youngest only aged 5 or so. I was shocked to realise that non were wearing Sun Glasses or Goggles. When I mentioned that it would be a good idea to put them on it became clear that they had been left in the car.

The Mother and later the Father were unconcerned at the potential damage the sun was doing so I called the lesson to an early end.

Bright sun, high altitude and unprotected eyes don't mix !

Hostau Era Claverola
Good value B&B Accommodation in Salardu, just below Baqueira. Regular bus services or 5 minutes in the car.

email Nuria the manager



Auviatge Miret
During my 06/07 Baqueira Winter season we stayed in a lovely apartment in the village of Garos. Garos is about 1/3 of the way up the valley from the main town of Vielha and the drive up to Baqueira takes around 15 minutes in the car (a fiat Panda in our case!). A Bus service runs up and down the valley and the bus stop is about 3 minutes from the apartment with a convenient 8.15 bus getting me to the Tuc Blac at 8.40 ish in time for coffee before ski school.

Judit was our host and her apartments are new build and of very high quality and include underground parking. Her web site is: www.auviatgemiret.com

UK Energy Saving - The UK Energy Saving website gives information and tips on ways to save energy and also how to save money on household bills.

Yesterdays jam seemed to prompt the machine to dump the mix in the mixing chamber into the bottom cure try, pretty much filling it up.

So this morning I found a likely looking Rose in the garden and treated it to a feed, tipping the compost around the base. We've not been able to get hold of any horse muck for the garden this year so the NatureMill compost is going to be a big help.

The experience so far has been very positive. The NatureMill does what it says on the tin and it's going to be very interesting to see how the second batch works out.

The only downside to this initial batch was it's smell (once outside on the garden) and not all items had composted as well as would have been ideal.

We've been adding an assortment of kitchen food waste over the last week and all seemed to be going OK until I noticed a couple of days ago that the mixture in the 'mixing chamber' was almost a paste. The American manufacturer mentioned that the 1st batch is often a little 'wet' so I decided to add another couple of handfuls of sawdust pellets. This seems to have done the trick. The NatureMill has mixed them into the soon to be compost and the mix has improved noticeably. Much dryer and "compost like".

This morning I noticed the machine had a red light on the front panel indicating a 'Jam'. I pressed the OK button hoping that it would free it's self up but no joy. The mixing arm whirred for a while and then stopped. I assumed that it was because the mix was to stodgy but on further investigation it was jammed up with an old potato !

The instructions recommend that larger items are cut down into manageable chunks to avoid such problems and suggest leaving the machine for 24hours as items often soften up allowing the machine to free it's self. Needless to say we didn't bother........     

 

Since the big switch on we've been feeding the NatureMill with food scraps, mostly old fruit and out of date bread. Today I happened to open the draw front and checked the terracotta coloured 'Cure Tray' and found our first batch of nice looking compost ! Impressive as it's only been a few days.

Now and again I hear the machine turning over the compost in the mixing chamber keeping the mix aerated. When adding new food you notice that the composting chamber is quite warm. This also helps speed the composting process.

The machine is made from a recycled foam/plastic material which has excellent installation properties, so once the composting chamber is up to temperature it requires very little power to keep it warm.

First things first, I walk down to our vegetable patch and get some soil with which to prime the NatureMill with. The instructions suggest 2 mug fulls. The soil provides the bacteria which will break the food waste down into compost. I add a couple of hand fulls of sawdust pellets from the bag provided (to give the compost body) and 2 table spoons of Bi Carbonate of Soda to help keep the acidity correct. I pop in a few token scraps of food and prepare for the big switch on.

With the transformer, NatureMill and travel adapter connected up, I switch it on. The NatureMill produces a low hum which is the air pump recycling air from the composting 'mixing chamber'. Recycling the air speeds up the composting action by keeping the oxygen levels up. The 'old' air is extracted via a carbon filter which keeps everything smelling sweet.

The NatureMill arrived nicely packed and undamaged after it's trip from the USA complete with instructions, a US power adapter (!), a bag of sawdust pellets and some Bi Carbonate of Soda. Before I could start composting the first job was to pop into town and pick up a travel adapter so that we could plug it in. That done I set up the composter in our pantry, just a couple of steps from the kitchen. I'm thinking the more convenient the location the more likely we are to recycle.

Back in the office after teaching skiing for a couple of weeks and I find a bill from Parcelforce asking for the VAT on our evaluation NatureMill machine which is currently stuck in a local depot. I pay the VAT and the hefty Parcelforce 'Admin' fee and ask if they will deliver tomorrow.