The sweet aroma of nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and loamy soil fills the air every morning. It’s called Chai Mulch, an inventive new environmentally friendly compost made from recycled tea.
When Ken Foster, founder of Santa Cruz, California’s Terra Nova Ecological Landscaping learned that the local tea factory was trashing an entire dumpster-worth of chai-waste every day, he had a sudden inspiration. Foster and his crew of 10 to 12 employees transformed the landfill-bound waste into nourishing fertilizer. Foster is a co-founder of Terra Nova Ecological Landscaping, a radically new – yet profoundly ancient – approach to landscaping.
“The mission of Terra Nova is that we work with the intelligence of nature... using nature as a mentor,” says Foster, who has a degree in landscape horticulture and is now the company’s sole owner and master landscape designer. Terra Nova uses only organic fertilizer, and never herbicides or pesticides. Native species that don’t use too much water are particularly emphasized.
“We create landscapes that are full and diverse and serve many functions,” says Foster. He says that landscapes designed by Terra Nova are not only beautiful, but often integrate organic vegetable and herbal gardens, and provide irrigation and water catchment.
Recycled materials are utilized wherever possible. Foster uses sawdust from a local cabinetmaker for pathways. For stepping stones and patios, he uses mosaics of rocks, bricks, and urbanite – an affectionate term for reused concrete which can be beautified by staining it with iron sulfate.