caption, page 11:

 

 

Doing the Job

The compost spreader provided by AgServices of Thompson does its job spreading compost provided by Eastern Connecticut Recycling as it helps to clear the snow from the Tigers’ athletic fields.  The program proved very popular and successful. Courtesy photo.

 

 

Baseballs not 

snowballs

thanks to

creative 

thinking

By Ron P. Coderre

The recent harsh winter season with record amounts of snow had baseball and softball coaches worried about ways to squeeze a 20-game schedule into a condensed framework.  As recently as a few days ago, the diamonds were still snow covered, with amounts of at least 1-foot in many locations.

But one thing about New Englanders, especially those from northeastern Connecticut, they don’t lack for creativity and ingenuity.  John Foucault of Eastern Connecticut Recycling reached back for a little extra creativity and arrived at a solution that could expedite the disappearance of the snow.

Foucault may have had an ulterior motive but his solution ended up working on behalf of many of the baseball diamonds in northeastern Connecticut.  Foucault, who is the head coach of the TriTown American Legion Baseball team, also serves as the assistant baseball coach of the Putnam Clippers.  His goal was to get the Clippers out of the gym and on to an outside diamond.

Through his business, Foucault had read how the Boston Red Sox ground crew had hastened the melting of the snow at Fenway Park through the application of black sand.  The application attracted the rays of the sun, melting the snow at a very quick pace.  Foucault applied this theory using leaf compost, which his company gets from local municipalities.

In order to test his theory he needed a cooperative partner, which he found in the person of Tourtellotte Memorial High School Director of Athletics Deb Spinelli.  When she listened to Foucault’s theory, she was in.  The decision was simple, especially because Foucault generously agreed to donate the compost to the school.  The theory worked and before they realized it Tourtellotte had three fields cleared of snow.

“The leaf compost is great because it attracts the sun.  Another benefit is as the snow melts the compost serves as fertilizer for the grass and soil.  The benefit is twofold and in the long run has a long-lasting effect.  An added feature is that it’s a completely green process because there are no chemicals involved,” said Foucault.

Tourtellotte employed the services of Ag Services of Thompson to spread the compost.  Soon the word, like the compost, began to spread and Foucault was delivering compost to UConn for its baseball field and to the Town of Putnam, where the compost was used on the baseball, softball and elementary school fields.  The results produced overnight results and with the rain that fell on the region the fields are ready for play with one caveat.  The sun needs to cooperate in the process by spreading some rays of sunshine.

“We’re pleased with the positive results we achieved and the response we received.  We’ve videotaped the procedure for use in future winter seasons.  It’s easy, efficient and affordable, which makes everyone happy,” said Foucault.

Thanks to creative thinking and Yankee ingenuity, by the way Foucault is a New York Yankee fan, local teams can get down to the business of baseball not snow balls.