Bloomington Food Policy Council works to increase and preserve access to sustainably produced, locally grown, healthful food. [bloomingtonfpc.org & outreach@bloomingtonfpc.org]
4/17/2019: “Closing the Loop on Bloomington’s Foodwaste: Of Compost, Community, and Transformation”
By Ryan T. Conway
Spring is a special time for Hope, as the Winter’s winds recede and the Summer’s heat approaches. Spring is also a season of Transformation: the cold, barren ground becomes warm and soft, again, releasing bugs from their sweet slumber and sending seeds into fits and spurts and shoots of green. Hope and Transformation define the promises of Spring, just as they define values and principles of our small, local, family-run businesses: Fable Farms Indiana, Green Camino Curbside Composting, and EarthKeepers Community Composting.
When we started Fable Farms, in 2017, we broke the bank to get there, so fixing-up the property – things like building fences and remediating the soil in the high-tunnel greenhouse – was out of the question. Fixing the soil was especially out of the question because our fellow farming friends showed us their receipts from the compost they buy to boost and manage their soils: it cost them just as much to ship the compost to their farms (from Michigan and Wisconsin!) as it did to buy the compost itself! Just as well, no local products seemed adequate to meet their needs…So what were *we* supposed to do?
We could make it ourselves, for our farm *and* our friends’ farms and gardens!
Shortly after we began this quest, the Monroe County Solid Waste Management District released a recent study of Bloomington & Monroe County’s waste stream, conducted by Kessler Consulting. The results? Over 39% of Bloomington & Monroe County’s waste stream was compostable…but instead of being composted, it was going to rot and release methane in landfills! Gross!
But with this new information, we knew we were on the right track for meeting an unmet need for Bloomington’s Sustainability goals and for Monroe County’s farmers and gardeners.
Thankfully we had good company: we were in meetings with the women who would eventually found Green Camino Curbside Composting and we helped them jumpstart their business – and our compost – by letting them deposit foodwaste at Fable Farms, free of charge. Fast-forward one year and, with Green Camino’s founders moving-on to greener pastures, we were happy to take the helm on March 29th, 2019: Andrea Avena Koenigsberger as CEO and Ryan T. Conway as her trusty VP.
However, something was missing from our Sustainability formula: we were helping the Environment, by diverting foodwaste to feed over 100 chickens before being moved into composting windrows (like Karl Hammer!); and, we were helping the local Economy by supplying our businesses using local resources and supplying our product to local farmers, gardeners, and nonprofits; but, where was the Equity piece, the third dynamic in sustainable communities?
Before we had even assumed the Green Camino ship, we were already on a mission: how do we make foodwaste diversion more accessible to more people and how do we create meaningful social impact for people who are in great need? Thanks to local sustainability organizer, Kate O’Shea, we were introduced to Made Up Mind, Inc., a local nonprofit that provides wrap-around services and job-placement opportunities for recently-released ex-offenders. And, thanks to them, we’re off to the races!
April 21st, 2019 holds the launch of a truly unique and truly Sustainable new program at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington. We are proud to introduce: EarthKeepers Community Compost!
EarthKeeper’s Community Compost is Green Camino and MUM’s flagship Sustainable Equity program, aiming to help Bloomington faith communities divert foodwaste, as a community, at a price-point more Bloomingtonians can afford and with the side-benefit of knowing where that money goes: ½ of all proceeds go directly toward paying ex-offenders a living-wage for collecting foodwaste, cleaning buckets, and processing compost; the other ½ of the proceeds go toward creating new job positions for ex-offenders at Fable Farms Indiana and at Green Camino Curbside Composting. Everyone wins!
And what could be more fitting for a Social Equity program than the interweaving of wasted food and broken lives, as they work together – in Hope – to Transform old soils and past mistakes into fertile grounds and loving hearts?
It sure feels like a lot to handle but even though it’s a big challenge, it’s just the tip of the iceberg for our Social Equity plans: in the next few months, Fable Farms will be hiring more ex-offenders to gain work experience with tools, tractors, and other equipment; and, what’s more, Green Camino will be rolling out a program to radically slash subscription prices and build community among composting friends and neighbors…we’re talking *doubling* our user base and nearly *halving* our prices!
We’re still crunching the numbers and finalizing the details but we hope our track-record has your trust:
We’re new owners of Green Camino – and we run a rather new farm – but we are proven leaders in community Sustainability organizing and technical expertise. After 3 years as the President of Bloomington’s Center for Sustainable Living, Andrea knows our Bloomington’s Sustainability concerns and is moving the ball forward against climate change, starting with “Reduced Food Waste,” which Project Drawdown lists as the #3 way to effectively fight climate change (of course, Composting makes the list, as well). After 3 years serving as Chair of the Bloomington Food Policy Council, Ryan has led years of intense local food system planning and policy change. As a newly appointed Monroe County Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisor, Ryan takes soil health seriously and as a recently-retired member of the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability, he’s helped shape the City’s Sustainability vision.
Andrea and Ryan both completed the US Composting Council‘s 40hr Compost Facility Operators Certification Training course, in August 2018, and gained their food-growing chops while running productivity tests for urban-agriculture innovators at Bloomington’s own Garden Tower Project. With Ryan’s family – parents Kevin and Christy, and older brother Sean – moving to the farm in 2018, Fable Farms Indiana is ready to grow and delighted to close the loop on foodwaste! So come find us at the Bloomington Farmers Market or peek out the window on compost collection days!
Interested in eggs or compost, in addition to your curbside foodwaste collection? Expanded services coming soon!
Ryan T. Conway can be reached at info@greencaminocompost.com.
Time to Choose Coalition 