Making the Most with Compost!
August 26, 2019
Did you know that CRC and our volunteers rescue around 500 pounds of food scraps a month to benefit the community? Throughout the week, CRC picks up perishable food such as produce, meats, dairy and more from local “fresh rescue” partners – grocery stores, farms and retail stores who donate food to us that would otherwise go to a landfill. Our Food and Nutrition Center distributes this food every month to nearly 500 households. Produce with severe bruising, mold and pierced skin or other scraps that can’t be used in the food and nutrition program are sorted out and put in a collection bin at our center.
Community volunteers come and collect the compost and put the scraps to great use! Two community members use the produce and bread scraps as feed for their chickens. Another community member, Dawn (pictured above), leads the Sage Garden Project at Ocean Knoll Elementary where she combines gardening, science and the culinary arts. Dawn uses the scraps to teach the children how to compost and to enrich the soil for their garden.
Some of the enriched soil is returned to CRC where it nourishes the vegetables being grown on site. In essence, the same scraps that were once generated on CRC grounds are now in the grounds feeding the garden to grow food – a full 360! CRC has been able to grow and harvest delicious beets, tomatoes, carrots, basil, and pepper and is currently growing cucumbers.
Thank you to our community partners who help us reduce, reuse and recycle and help the environment.
