GREE~

on the Greens

Thezero lood waste initiative starts in the kitchen at Musket Ridge Golf Club, where Executive Chef Kyle Roberson (L-R), Sous Chef Kenny Alfordand staff collect trimmings from food preparation - vegetables, fruits, and meat trimmings - in large white buckets. All food waste, includingguest leftovers cleared from tables, is converted to compost via the fermentation process ot bokashi.

Musket Ridge Golf ClubAdds to Its Eco-Friendly

Cachet with a ZeroFood Waste Program.

It'snot often in business that a company implements an innovative practice - onethat garners local, national and even international recognition - and then activelytries to share that practice with others in its industry. But that is exactly what's

going on at Musket Ridge Golf Club, where a zero food waste program has divertedan estimated 15,330 pounds of waste out oflandfills since March 2011. "This is a toolthat we use that's really helping us, and I don't feel good keeping it to myself," saysDamon De Vito, managing director of Affinity Management, which runs MusketRidge. "Imagine if 16,000 golf courses in the country did it. I don't want it to be acompetitive advantage. Everyone should be doing this."

The initiative earned the Best Golf Business Idea of the Year honor at the NationalGolf Course Owners Association's (NGCOA) annual conference in Las Vegas, where

The attention is merited not simply because Musket Ridge is thefirst on the East Coast to implement zero food waste, but becausefood waste is a critical environmental issue.Damon discussed the effort and partici-pated in a panel discussion. Golf Businessand GolfStyies Washington magazinesprofiled the program. Musket Ridge hasreceived a citation from Maryland Gov.Martin O'Malley and won the FrederickCounty Waste Reduction and RecyclingAward in 2012. And Damon and Execu-tive Chef Kyle Roberson have fielded

queries from Sweden, a Minnesota NPRstation, a chef in Arizona, a couple inMartinsburg, and others.

FIGHTING FOOD WASTEThe attention is merited not simply be-cause Musket Ridge is the first on theEast Coast to implement zero foodwaste, but because food waste is a critical

Utilizing locally grown produce is animportant, growing movement in boththe culinary and environmental realms., Kathy and Jay Reeder, owners ofHempen Hill BBQ in Hagerstown, haveembraced that and more - partneringwith Creekside Farm in Smithsburg forlocal produce and to compost scraps fromthe restaurant's kitchen. "We're collabo-rating on how we can best complimenteach other [and] how we can help eachother move forward," Kathy says.

It all started with a surplus of raspber-ries and a chance encounter in a hairsalon. A server who worked at HempenHill connected Kathy with Creekside Pro-prietor Dorothy (Dottie) Ridenour and herpartner in the farm, Byron (Barry) Sier.When she returned the raspberry boxes,Kathy discovered the pair grew a variety ofproduce and asked if they would be inter-ested in composting the restaurant's veg-etable by-products.

Since 2010, the arrangement has grown

Hempen Hill Chef JasonVogel (L-R) exchanges com-postable kitchen scraps forfresh produce from Barry Sier,who operates Creekside Farmwith Dottie Ridenour.

From Farmto Forkto Farm

each year. Dottie and Barry pick up fruitand vegetable scraps, citrus rinds fromHempen Hill's fresh-squeezed juices,eggshells, and more. It's combined withorganic material from the farm, and thecompost is used in the fields or on green-house plants. "It's an easy way to put nu-trients back into the soil without anychemicals or pesticides," Dottie says.Andit resulted in a surprise treat for the farm'sLimousin beef steers, which love snackingon the lemon and orange rinds.

During the off season, Hempen Hill ChefJason Vogel meets with Barry and Dottieto plan produce plantings for the restau-rant. In addition to a variety of tomatoesand cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflowerand kohlrhabi, "this year, we're plantingdifferent herbs that [Chef Vogel] would liketo try. Also, we've never planted bok choybefore, and we're trying that this year,"Barry says. "It has worked out for every-body concerned, and I hope it continuesand grows even more."

environmental issue. According to a2012 National Resources Defense Coun-cil study, uneaten food rotting in landfillsis the single largest component of US.municipal solid waste and accounts for alarge portion of US. methane emissions- a greenhouse gas at least 25 timesmore powerful in global warming as car-bon dioxide. At the restaurant level, thestudy found that between 4 and 10 per-cent of food purchased becomes kitchenloss before reaching the consumer, whilediners leave 17 percent of meals uneaten.

"We like to think of ourselves as re-sourceful, eco-minded," Damon says ofthe Affinity organization as a whole. AtMusket Ridge, they are committed toreducing mowable acreage, preservingnatural areas on the golf course and con-serving water - all important, responsi-ble practices of a well-managed golfcourse. The drive to do more wasprompted by a group business customer'squestion. Despite Musket Ridge's bestpractices, "it didn't translate into a wowfactor for the customer," Damon recalls."That left us feeling empty and thinkingthat perhaps we should be doing more."

"As a golf course, we do use chemi-cals," Executive Chef Kyle Robersonsays of the process of manicuring greensand fairways. "So you sort of feel a re-sponsibility to try to offset what you do."He implemented recycling of cardboard,aluminum, glass and plastic, and thecourse also embraced environmentallyfriendly cleaning supplies and recyclingof kitchen grease into biofuel. A friendof Damon's introduced the Affinity teamto the Rock 'n Renew Foundation, an or-ganization dedicated to environmentaleducation for students through uniquepartnerships with musicians. That'swhere the seeds were planted for bokashi- a fermentation process that breaksdown all food wastes, including vegeta-bles, meat and fat. "It was a confoundingword and a confounding concept,"Damon says. "It sounded too good tobe true." Musket Ridge took at leastsix months of asking questions before

Not far from fhe kifchen and screened by astand of pine trees, Chef Kyle turns a rich pileof compost that he'll use to enrich the soil ofhisnearby herb garden.

working up the courage to try it, Damonsays,vowing that the first time some-thing didn't go right, they'd abandon it."We tried it, it went just as promised,and it's been fantastic!"

BEATING THE DRUM FOR BOKASHI2013 is Musket Ridge's third summerseason using bokashi, which producesboth a liquid fertilizer and solid com-post. The process starts in the kitchen,where Chef Roberson makes sure thestaff is fully on board. "I'm one of thosepeople who, ifI'm going to do it, I'mgoing to do it right. And it's not thathard of a process," he says. Any wastefrom food preparation - ends of lettuce,root parts of vegetables, meat trimmings- goes into buckets placed around thekitchen, including one near the dish areainto which servers can clear leftovers.The buckets are emptied into a large binand combined with the bokashi mixtureofwheat bran, distilled water, molasses andEM1, effective microorganisms that go towork turning the food waste into compost.

Mter two weeks, the finished bokashiis transferred to nearby compost piles tobe combined with mulch and other trim-mings from the grounds. "We to go a lotoflengths to recycle everything," ChefRoberson says. The compost is utilizedin a small garden behind the kitchen, ir-rigated with rain barrels, where the chef

fIl. quicK compechaUenge golf

iijoyttie numerous improvements we haVe'iiiiidet01tieourse and the newly remodeled clubhouse featuring a foodnil beverage area with beer sales, enhanced pro shop, andomfortable indoor and outdoor seating areas.

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The bokashi mixture, which resemblesdamp sawdust, is comprised of wheat bran,distilled water, molasses and the EMl (effec-tive microorganisms) that powers the fermen-tation process.

will grow herbs this year. "We're hopingwe'll be able to use primarily all herbsfrom our garden. It's a learning processfor me, and I learn new things every year,and try new things every year," he says.

The zero food waste program hasbloomed beyond the garden, too. MusketRidge partnered with Valley ElementarySchool, and Rock 'n Renew founder andmusician Jonny Dubowsky visited theschool Green Team's garden and helpedharvest vegetables, which the kidsbrought to Musket Ridge to preparewith Chef Roberson. One of MusketRidge's neighbors teaches a children'ssummer camp and now brings studentsover to learn about the process. Golf co-ordinators, event planners and brides tobe also have a new element to be excitedabout when hosting guests at MusketRidge and Catoctin Hall. "Everyone's soaware [of environmental issues] now,"says Event Sales Manager Bonnie Swan-son. "They might visit the website andlove the view, but one thing that keysthem in is the zero food waste program."

Though other golf courses have yet tofollow Musket Ridge's lead, MfinityManagement is making change whereit's able: the company is implementingthe bokashi practice at two other facili-ties under its umbrella. "I haven't givenup," Damon says of his efforts to encour-age other courses to embrace a zero foodwaste approach. "We'll continue to beatthat drum." And at Musket Ridge, ChefRoberson says, "now we're looking forthe next green thing." •