compost

Carrots and papaya plants have already pushed up through a rectangle of dark soil, thanks to a technique based on organic fertilisers made from a mixture of compost and chicken manure.

SB 1383 requires that 75% of organic waste be diverted away from landfills by the end of the year and instead turned into compost.

"Everything you'd need to start exploring fungi and computing could be as small as a compost heap and some homemade electronics, or as big as a culturing factory with pre-made templates," said LaRocco.

Leaves provide all three, whether you leave them where they fall, scatter them in perennial beds or put them in a compost pile.

The 27-year-old urban ecologist and biodiversity educator, originally from New Jersey, has spent the last five years working in composting and native gardening.