Join Mothers Out Front for Composting in the City, a virtual event on March 3 at 7pm featuring a conversation with Aaron Chism, lead farmer and soil expert from Bootstrap Compost. Learn why composting is important to our city, our health, and Mayor Wu’s Green New Deal. Learn how easy it is to be part of the solution. Learn more and register here. The program will be held on Zoom.
Cooking at home more often these days? Want to learn how to reduce household trash and improve garden soil health by composting food and yard waste? Tune in on May 29 at 1 pm to this FREE, fun webinar that will provide tips, how-to’s, and local resources to start or improve your own composting system in Central and Western Mass, followed by a question and answer session with local composting experts.
Hosted by the Food Waste Reduction and Composting Working Group of the Greater Quabbin Food Alliance.
Registration is required and open to the first 100 participants. Register in advance for this meeting by clicking this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZElfuyurDsiE9GdDvBMzpDkbjYr1iip7Znm
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
For more information, visit: https://www.mountgrace.org/get-involved/events/event/home-composting-webinar
Project Oscar is the City of Boston’s 24-hour community compost pilot program. Named after the Sesame Street character, Project Oscar compost bins give communities a place to drop-off residential food scraps for composting. Our bins are emptied by the Public Works team, and managed by Greenovate Boston. This partnership project is a pilot program, so we appreciate feedback about how it’s going. This pilot program currently has six community compost bins. They are located in these locations:
East Boston, on the Lewis Mall across from Maverick Station MBTA stop
North End, in the Nazzaro Center parking lot on North Bennet Street
Brighton, at Faneuil Gardens Apartments in the west parking lot across from McKinney Playground
Jamaica Plain, in the parking lot of the Curtis Hall Community Center at 20 South Street
City Hall Plaza, on Fisher Park near the Bill Russell Statue and food truck vending area
Grove Hall Plaza, off of Blue Hill Avenue next to Flames restaurant
Project Oscar bins can be used to compost personal food scraps by anyone who works or lives in Boston. All bins are unlocked and open to the public for use at any time.
These items CAN be composted
Fruit and vegetable scraps, peelings, pits, and seeds
Eggshells and nutshells
Rice, pasta, cereal
Bread, pastries, cookies
Coffee grounds and coffee filters
Teabags
Cut or dry flowers
Napkins, paper towels, paper plates
Cardboard take-out containers
Wine corks
Wooden coffee stirrers
Biodegradable plastics and bags
Items we don’t take in our bins
Meat, fish, bones
Dairy products
Cheese
Fats, grease, oils
Pet waste
Charcoal
Yard waste (Find your leaf and yard waste collection schedule)
Cigarette butts
Dryer lint, dryer sheets
Styrofoam
Plastic bags
Have questions about Project Oscar? Please email us at oscar@boston.gov, or call us 617-635-3850.
The Trustees and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh present the 42nd Annual Gardeners’ Gathering on Saturday, March 18 from 11 – 4 at Northeaster University’s Shillman Hall. Free and open to all, The Gardeners’ Gathering brings together over 400 gardeners to kick off Boston’s gardening season. The Gardeners’ Gathering is the city’s largest educational forum for urban gardeners, and an opportunity for people to share ideas, network, and learn.
**Special guest speaker LaDonna Redmond, food justice activist**
**Over 2 dozen skill building and community organizing workshops**
**Boston environmental, agricultural, and community exhibitors**
The Gardeners’ Gathering offers more than two-dozen skill-building workshops for both vegetable and ornamental gardeners, with an emphasis on healthy practices for urban gardens. Topics range from seed starting, composting, fermentation, and urban beekeeping to community and youth organizing. Attendees will also be able to interact with exhibitors from Boston-area agriculture, gardening, and environmental organizations.
Special guest speaker LaDonna Redmond will address “Food and Justice–feeding ourselves in uncertain times” during the noon plenary and will participate in a roundtable discussion during the workshop sessions about food justice as a movement toward liberation, and ending oppression in our food system and beyond.
For more information visit http://www.thetrustees.org/things-to-do/greater-boston/event-29688.html
For 41 years, the Gardeners Gathering has provided an annual forum for gardeners to shrug off winter together and celebrate urban gardening in Boston. The 41st Annual Gardeners’ Gathering, presented by the Trustees of Reservations and the City of Boston, will take place on Saturday, March 26, at the Egan Center and Shillman Hall at Northeastern University in Boston, from 10 – 4:30. This year, back by popular demand, the Annual Community Garden Awards will be presented by Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who will honor individuals, garden groups, and non-profit organizations with the “Hall of Fame,” “Rookie Gardener of the Year,” and “Most Valuable Gardener” awards. Award ceremony beings at 12pm.
Free and open to all, The Gardener’s Gathering brings together over 400 gardeners to kick off Boston’s gardening season. As the city’s largest educational forum for urban gardeners, the Gardeners’ Gathering is an opportunity for people to share ideas and tips, network, and learn. The Gardeners’ Gathering offers more than two dozen skill-building workshops for both vegetable and ornamental gardeners with an emphasis on healthy practices for urban gardens. Topics range from seed starting to composting, urban beekeeping, and community and youth organizing to learning how to prepare garden-grown goodies like sauerkraut. Attendees will also have the opportunity to learn about Boston-area agriculture, gardening, and environmental organizations through the information gallery.
This year, the Gardeners Gathering will start off with a keynote speaker and breakfast event at 10:00 AM in the Egan Center. Leading social entrepreneur Daniel Ross (pictured below) of Daisa Enterprises and formerly of Nuestras Raices and Wholesome Wave Charitable Foundation, will speak on “Dimensions of Change through Community Gardening.” This portion of the program is $15 for Trustees members and $25 for nonmembers, and requires online registration. The remainder of the program is free and attendees can register when they arrive.
“The Gardeners’ Gathering offers an inspirational, educational venue for Boston residents and gardening enthusiasts to share information and expand their gardening skills while celebrating the City as a dynamic hub for community-based, urban gardening ” says Barbara Erickson, Trustees of Reservations President & CEO. “As the nation’s passion for gardening continues to grow exponentially each year, we are excited to move our mission to connect more Massachusetts residents with local food sources and programming forward with time-tested events like the Gardeners’ Gathering.”
For a complete schedule of activities and workshop topics and more information, contact Michelle de Lima at mdelima@thetrustees.org or 617.542.7696 x2115. To register for the keynote, please visit www.thetrustees.org .
Join the Boston Natural Areas Network on Saturday, September 20 from 10 – 12 at the Leyland Street Community Garden, 6 – 18 Leyland Street in Dorchester to learn how your community garden can troubleshoot issues with infrastructure, process and monitoring of an existing compost system. Check the BNAN website and Facebook page for additional Composting Together workshops. Registration required by contacting 617-542-7696 or info@bostonnatural.org.
Help the Boston Natural Areas Network construct a brand new composting system and learn the science and process of composting, on Saturday, August 30, from 10 – 12 at the Norton Stonehurst Community Garden, located on Norton and Stonehurst Streets in Dorchester. Leave knowing how to build and maintain a healthy, balanced compost pile. Registration required by contacting 617-542-7696 or by emailing info@bostonnatural.org. Photo from www.squawkfox.com.
Decisions we make in our gardens today can have large impacts on the landscapes of tomorrow. How do we ensure the long term sustainability of our backyards, business parks and public spaces? Identify and address these potential problems by taking a comprehensive look at the landscape through the eyes of designers, horticuturists and botanists, in this three part New England Wild Flower Society class, to be held on three successive Mondays, October 22 (10 – 3), October 29 (10 – 3) and November 5 (10 – 2) at Garden in the Woods in Framingham. Receive hands-on training in soil health and composting, plant ID and selection, storm water management and organic techniques – all filtered through the concepts of modern design. Bring a bag lunch. $216 for NEWFS members, $245 for non-members. Register at www.newfs.org. Photo from www.verbeeksculpture.com.
As part of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s “Thursday at the Hort” presentation program, hear Ann McGovern of the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency speak on Thursday, June 21, beginning at 7 pm at Elm Bank on the topic of Composting. “Thursday at the Hort” presentations begin at 7 pm and go until all questions are answered. The classes are priced at $12 for members and $15 for non-members unless otherwise indicated. There is no need to pre-register and you may pay at the class. For more information visit www.masshort.org.
This NOFA workshop on Tuesday, August 9, from 6 – 8 at the Southwest Corridor Community Garden in Jamaica Plain, explores a variety of compost methods, including: efficient microbes, vermiculture, tumblers, barrels, and plain old piles. Presenter Allison Fastman will talk about what methods are best for different situations, what can and cannot be composted with each system, rat and pest control, nitrogen and carbon balance, and how to collect and use compost tea. Allison will also go over how to make a composter for each method, how to find excellent free materials, and how to use compost to enrich soils. $18 NOFA members/$20 Non-members. About the instructor: Allison Fastman has been gardening since she learned to walk under the tutelage of her parents and grandparents. She’s read and experimented extensively at home and in the classroom both as a student and teacher. To register for the workshop or for more information visit www.nofamass.or
