In our popular culture magic has become synonymous with billowing clouds of magenta smoke, blinding flashes, and veils of sparkling pixie dust: all light, air and vapors. But, as anyone who has mixed up a potion of potato peels, onion husks, watermelon rind, black bananas, and some dried sycamore leaves (hold the eye of newt) will tell you, magic can also happen in the dark with little fanfare and rich reward.
Just ask Liz Lubin, compost manager at Feed and Be Fed and she will tell you that the transformation of food waste into loamy plant nutrition is more miraculous than a frog turning into a prince. Liz has managed the compost program at our 6th Street garden for almost four years where she has personally guided over six tons of food waste through the composting process and into the vegetable beds of our urban farm. That’s six tons that did not have to be transported by heavy trucks, long distances to landfills; thousands of pounds of “black gold” , a social and economic liability transformed into a nutritional and community asset.
And for our next trick, Feed and Be Fed will not double, not triple, but quadruple its composting capacity. This will be facilitated by a pending State of California grant (incidentally supported by the sale of Carbon credits) that aims to boost exactly the kind of thing we are doing- community composting. With the grant money and expert assistance, we propose to construct an enlarged composting facility at our partner site the LAUSD Science Center. This grant would also expand our community outreach seeking more donations of vegetable scraps from our San Pedro residents and restaurants. We are currently in the second round of qualification for this wonderful grant. Wish us Luck!
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