EVERY MORNING, BRIAN Norvell gets up and goes to Undertown Coffee in the warrens of the Baker Block Building in downtown Port Townsend.
But he’s not there for a daily shot of caffeine; he’s there to collect a pick-me-up for his plants.
“I get one to three buckets a day,” he said.
What Norvell collects are 5-gallon buckets of used coffee grounds, which he recycles in his compost pile.
The grounds create super soil for the garden he has created on Center Street, one he wants to share with the larger community.
“Kathy and I are so blessed to have this property,” Norvell said, referring to spouse Kathy Norvell. “I have a yearning for my garden, a dream that I want to see fall into place.”
Bought six years ago
A quarter-acre in size, the garden area was waist-high grass when Brian, a retired marketing manager, and Kathy, an operating room nurse, bought the property six years ago.
Norvell built raised beds and raised produce for his family, giving the excess to the local food bank.
He also built an arbor for the grape vine and the rosh bushes that were growing along a fence.
But he saw a potential that went beyond carrots and onions.
“It wasn’t being used right,” he said.
Then one day, Norvell was at the Undertown, watching barista Joe Ruth making espresso, and casually asked, “What are you going to do with the grounds?”
Ruth replied, “Why? Do you want them?” and Norvell said yes.
‘Grounds keeper’
Now, everyone is used to seeing Norvell arrive in the morning and pick up the buckets.
“I’m the grounds keeper,” Norvell said.
The power of the compost, and the growing focus on fresh local food, led Norvell to start thinking of new twists for his plot.
Why not use it to promote healthy eating? Why not grow the best possible fresh herbs that could be used minutes after picking? But Norvell is thinking beyond the raised beds.
“Why not turn one of the outbuildings into a commercial kitchen for canning and cooking herb soups?” he said. “Why not build a brick oven and bake bread to serve with tarragon butter?”
The stumbling block: The garden’s potential was way beyond one person’s reach.
So Norvell recruited Linda McKibban, a former cook and baker at the Undertown, to join him in the garden makeover.
So far, McKibban has been experimenting with using the abundance of green tomatoes to make relish, salsas and chutneys.
She is also interested in making herb-infused vinegars and growing plants for medicinal purposes.
“What’s important to me is the health aspect, the locally grown food and sharing,” McKibban said.
Norvell also envisions a place where people can come and relax in the garden or sit under the grape arbor and read a book.
Other ideas: to use the garden for al fresco events — wine-tastings, dinners, concerts.
Norvell and McKibban, who is known for her pies, have already held a pie party in the garden and invited the baristas.
Norvell said he is planning to install lighting and a fountain but is waiting until a trip to Italy provides inspiration for the latter.
The name he has in mind for the space: “Nonna’s Herb Garden,” nonna being the Italian term for grandmother.
Foundation
“We have the dream; we have the vision,” he said. “We are trying to lay the first foundation stone.”
Norvell and McKibban are now looking for people to join them in realizing the garden’s potential.
One idea: to take over management of the dahlia bed and develop a small operation selling cut flowers.
However, Norvell sees growing and selling herbs as the major focus for the garden, one that someone interested in entrepreneurial gardening could determine and manage.
“How much thyme do you have to grow to have thyme for everybody?” Norvell asked.
Another idea he is working on: producing and selling soil made from coffee compost.
But when Norvell first took home the Undertown grounds, he wasn’t aware that they would compost on their own.
Then, he noticed the pile of dead weeds he had dumped the grounds on was heating up to 150 degrees.
“The results are wonderful,” he said. “We have awesome soil.”
The giant dahlias, the bean-stalk-like growth of his climbing roses, the bushy appearance of the perennials in his garden bear out the claim.
He also has proof that vegetarian compost outperforms compost made with manure.
A charter member of the local Liars’ Club, Norvell challenged a friend to a race between a worm in her compost and one from his.
Worm race
The race took place at Raspberry Downs, a miniature track he made from wood scraps.
The race, according to Norvell, was sanctioned by the National Worm Racing Association.
“My worm won,” he said.
Recycling coffee grounds is one more example of taking waste and turning it into something useful, Norvell said.
In addition to putting the grounds on his compost pile, he rinses out the buckets and pours the liquid on selected plants that need a boost.
“They are coffeed every day,” he said.
Norvell and McKibban said plans for the garden are still in the experimental stage and see it as an “open playground” for green-thumb entrepreneurs.
For more information, email Norvell at brianinpt@yahoo.com.
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Jennifer Jackson writes about Port Townsend and Jefferson County every Wednesday. To contact her with items for this column, phone 360-379-5688 or email jjackson@olypen.com.
