There was a fire in our summer home, a house where my family and I gathered for more than two decades to rest, relax, and spend quality time together—three generations of family. Offering a much-needed respite from the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, our home served as a welcoming place where we forgot about work and responsibility for just a little while.
The fire occurred just weeks before my husband and I intended to arrive there, and the news shrouded us in sadness for a few days. My parents are no longer with us, but their voices, their strength and steadfastness will always be a part of me. Growing up, my dad often reminded us “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” and when we went through particularly challenging times, he said “always remember that tough times never last, but tough people do, and when they persist, they are often transformed for the better—a metamorphosis.”
The memory of my father’s words rallied my spirit, and we immediately began planning both the renovation of our home, and the reconstruction of our summer plans. In the process, we travelled to new places, solidified old friendships, made new friends, and created opportunity out of ashes.
Meanwhile, we renovated our home in a way that better serves the future generations of our family and the environment. We added carbon neutral septic tanks, a geothermal heating system, and indigenous, pollinator-friendly plantings, as well as a vegetable garden—a small place to grow pesticide free, organic produce for our family.
With my dream garden in place, I was more motivated than ever to compost. The idea of filling my beds with “black gold” in preparation for Spring plantings revived my interest, and according to a recent New York Times article, “The answer to so many gardening questions is, typically, compost, whether you’re adding it to help improve fertility or water-holding ability: Compost, compost, compost.”
My daughter, Kayla, believes that the answers to life’s big questions lie in our connection with the natural world, and while seeking volunteer opportunities that would put her in nature, she discovered a plethora of community composting programs, and gifted us a fall membership with Ecological Culture Initiative. It was so effortless! ECI gave us a list of what they will accept for composting and provided collection receptacles that were picked up every Tuesday morning and replaced with clean pails. The staff tracked our scraps by weighing and recording each pail they picked up and we earned compost—food scraps transformed, metamorphosed into nourishing soil.
If you do not have a garden, you can use your compost to nurture your houseplants or donate it back to ECI for their community garden.
Here are a few community composting programs in New York City, the Hamptons and Palm Beach—it is such a feel-good way to have a daily impact on our environment.
