Johnson-Su Composting Bioreactors (2020)

The seeds for this project were initiated listening to the stories of Gil Vigil of Tesuque Pueblo, Oren Lyons, John Stokes and others at a Tree of Peace Planting in 2019 when we learned that south side Santa Fe was known to the Tesuque Tewa as Where The Buffalo Come. Also turning our thoughts onto Equity for All Life.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do something about restoring the soil, the biodiversity and the prairie that once supported a Buffalo migration right here in Santa Fe? These thoughts lead to studying soil restoration and the Johnson-Su Composting Bioreactor.

We gathered together with many volunteer days to assemble and fill 10 bioreactors and for 2 years have given them the conditions to complete their compost process.

Fast forward to 2022 and the composting process is almost finished and bioreactors have been the initiator of our Regeneration Now! project.

These photos show a progression of the building process start to finish. Our bioreactors are listed in the Chico State Johnson-Su BEAM Research & Bioreactor Registry project along with lots of information on this fungal dominant composting system.