Earth Month, Compost Awareness, and Summer of Soil

September 20, 2023

 

A family brings their kitchen food scraps to the Atwater Village Farmers’ Market Food Scrap Drop-off location in Northeast Los Angeles. LA Compost currently hosts drop-off locations at 11 Los Angeles farmers’ markets, with more to come soon!
A family brings their kitchen food scraps to the Atwater Village Farmers’ Market Food Scrap Drop-off location in Northeast Los Angeles. LA Compost currently hosts drop-off locations at 11 Los Angeles farmers’ markets, with more to come soon! 

In the first six months of 2023, LA Compost successfully continued its mission to connect Los Angeles residents to the soil and one another through localized food waste reduction, composting and soil regeneration at regional parks, community gardens and green spaces. We also had an extraordinary Spring season filled with events for Angelenos!

In April, LA Compost launched our Earth Month events series with eight different composting events. Our staff team engaged over 550 individuals through composting workshops and our first-ever Regional Compost Distribution at our Regional Compost Hub in Griffith Park. An additional event highlight was Magic Soil Day at the Audubon Center at Debs Park, which engaged 20-plus families in child-friendly science, arts, and hands-on nature-based activities. This event sets the groundwork for the eventual launch of the LA Compost "Magic Soil Bus", which will deliver hands-on soil and compost education directly to K-12 school campuses across Los Angeles County. Overall, our Earth Month event series was a success thanks to partnerships with the LA Community Garden Council, HikeClerb, CicLAvia, SoCal Children's Museum, and our 60+ partner network.

LA Compost staff host a soil health and microscopy workshop for community members at the Carver Middle School Community Garden in South Los Angeles.

In May, LA Compost highlighted International Compost Awareness Week on our online channels. We premiered a Spanish-language video workshop on the Basics of Composting on our website which currently has over 9.4k views on Youtube!  There was also the first-ever Community Microscopy workshop held at our South LA site, Carver Middle School. In partnership with community-based organization Prospering Backyards and led by LA Compost’s Soil and Compost Specialist Lynn Fang, participants were able to learn about microbial life in soil and compost, test soil samples from their homes and the Carver Middle School Garden.

Finally, in June began the start of LA Compost's #SummerofSoil which highlights educational events, community celebrations, and compost distribution opportunities happening throughout the summer season. The three Community Celebrations (North East, South, and SF Valley) happening as part of #SummerofSoil, will mark the culmination of a year of service by our California Climate Action Corps Fellows Kyle and Ana. Both fellows will organize, plan, and facilitate the community celebrations as they round out the final months of their fellowships.