One of the many joys of working for The Council is that we get to play time zones. There are 4.5 hours worth of time zones across the country ... we can start out in the morning chatting with our members in Atlantic Canada and end the day in BC.

And, of course, given the way that our compost folks love what they do, the nine-to-five way of life is not a standard part of the equation. Minds are always thinking about ways to make more composting happen, develop and expand compost markets and all points in between. As I sit writing this little note in our quiet post 6 pm office, the phone continues to ring and we've had the chance to have great catch-up chats with Paul Arnold in Nova Scotia, John Paul in British Columbia, Scott Gamble in Alberta ... all of whom are busy in their compost piles and with their projects.

This week has flown by. As thoughts and lives start to head towards friends and family-time for Thanksgiving, the week's events start to lower in brightness, readying for a re-awakening on Tuesday morning.

I can't believe that it's already been a week since we did a Harvest Party near St. Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto to support our Plant a Row - Grow a Row program. We bar-b-q'd corn as well as pizza; had amazing baked goods for sharing (special thanks to Tanya Principe's (North York Harvest Food Bank) Mom & her bakery's donation for our event). We handed out flyers to passer-bys and were so amazingly thrilled to have so many of them drop by with donations post their market shopping. We collected well over 500 pounds of fresh produce for the North York Harvest Food Bank that morning. And best of all, we got everything cleaned up, the truck loaded and the good-byes said just before it poured down rain. Whew. Lucky break.

We are about ready to declare our national winner for Compost's Giants - The Great Pumpkin Growing Contest ... bragging rights are about to be handed over to a brand new winner this year --- our fifth year of the contest and to-date every year has had a new champion. So far, it's been Dave McCallum, the City of Kelowna, the Lunenburg Composting and Recycling Facility and the City of Guelph. Year #5's champion will be crowned next week.

We had a terrific day in London yesterday, discussing the Compost Quality Alliance program and its applicability with the requirements of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency under the Fertilizers Act. This is becoming a key program for us in the year ahead and holds the promise of tremendous potential for compost market development and industry sustainability.

But it's Friday night and it's time to turn the computer off.

Enjoy the Fall colours ... and delight in knowing that we'll be "catching" many of them for our compost piles in the weeks ahead.

Happy Thanksgiving.