Get Your Hands Dirty with Maya Dailey from Maya's Farm

We've never been up for wallowing in the mud, but here's an event that's making us think twice.

This Saturday, January 16, at The Farm at South Mountain local farmer Maya Dailey, who won a Best of Phoenix for her Green Thumb last year, will be building a biodynamic compost heap, and the public's invited to grab a shovel and learn how to make one themselves.

Nicki Escudero

You could have a part in making this meal

​While the term "compost heap" doesn't sound so tasty, composting is really an environmentally beneficial practice that utilizes decomposed organic materials to create soil that goes back into the farming techniques. It helps eliminate waste and decrease farming cost since you're recycling materials back into the earth.

Biodynamic composting, which is what will be taught on Saturday, integrates spirituality and celestial influences, which participants will learn more about in the class.

"It's like homeopathic remedies for the soil," Dailey says. "It opens the doors to encourage the spiritual forces to become alive on the planet earth again."

The Farm at South Mountain, which includes upscale restaurant Quiessence Restaurant and Bar, uses locally grown food in its menus, so if you help out this weekend, chances are you can eat food you helped cultivate in the future.

"It'll be an energizing, educational, hands-on morning," Dailey says.

Dailey is partnering with the Phoenix Permaculture Guild for this event, and there's a suggested donation of $20 for the Guild. For more info on the event, which starts at 8 a.m., check out this site.