For about two decades, Mr Elms has been known as Dr Compost for sharing his knowledge on composting and gardening in the Queenstown Lakes community.
He gained the title after running workshops when Wanaka Wastebusters were looking at getting a council contract around education and growing food and composting.
He was asked to come up with some ideas — ‘‘and I came up with Dr Compost where superhero meets nerd and it just grew from there’’, he said.
‘‘With amazing support from Wanaka Wastebusters, who I still work for and with, as well as QLDC who employ us to run workshops in the district,’’ he said.
‘‘Sometimes I wonder if I should still be doing it then run a workshop and really enjoy it.
‘‘I really enjoy the interaction from people and I love the learning I get from the experience as well.
‘‘I love problem solving for people, I love the ability to be able to find solutions and ideas,’’ Mr Elms said.
With a degree in geography, Mr Elms came into the Dr Compost role with a lot of self-learning.
‘‘Self education, attending lots of workshops myself, permaculture courses, squillions of books and a love for experimenting.’’
Combining learning with not being afraid to give things a go was one of the best things about being Dr Compost, he said.
‘‘I often get asked to go to other areas and districts but I prefer not to, I want them to have their own Dr Compost.
‘‘There are also a lot of other people in the community which offer similar expertise.
‘‘I get people who have lived here for years and years and people who have just moved here who want to learn how to compost or grow a garden.
‘‘At the start of February somebody in this district would have had a frost in the morning then the day hits 26°C.
‘‘It’s an unusual place to grow food,’’ he said.
Aside from the satisfaction of growing food, getting out in the garden was great for mental health, Mr Elms said.
‘‘Hopefully we are able to give some ideas and tips on how to grow that food and fertilise soil, we have some poor soils in this district, and you can grow amazing vegetables for virtually nothing,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve all failed and killed some worms or had a dry compost bucket — get along to a workshop to learn how to grow great compost and great food.’’
Working for Wastebusters Mr Elms is the face of the recycling truck which he said seemed to follow him around.
‘‘The places I’ve seen that truck; I’m having a cup of tea at Lake Hawea and there they are parked up or I look up and there it is staring down at me,’’ he said.
