Hope Springs Eternal, Let’s Give It A Hand

By April 11, 2018 August 3rd, 2021 News
Hope springs eternal

Welcome to Spring and to the renewal and new possibilities it brings! Hope Springs Eternal. We’ve got some great reasons for hope this month – in the form of garbage and chickens.

Wait, what?

Yes, garbage. As you may know, the county lost our local compost company, Sonoma Compost, about two years ago. Since then, we’ve been sending our compostable “garbage” to composting facilties outside the county, resulting in added costs to taxpayers and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, these composting facilities are Napa Recycling and Composting Facility, Redwood Landfill and Cold Creek Compost.

We’ve just learned that the indomitable, dedicated Will Bakx and his crew, who led Sonoma Compost, are on their way back into business as Renewable Sonoma. Particularly after the devastating October fires, the need for clean compost is greater than ever. Please help by writing a letter of support for this critical effort. Click on this link for details and more information. Hope Springs Eternal, indeed.

Another lovely bit of hopeful, renewable news comes to us in an article by Rebecca Black of Green Goose Farm in Cotati, in the current issue of Edible Marin and Wine Country, Ultimate Upcycling.

Some of you may be old enough to remember the “pig man” from your childhood. I had one – he came every week in his beat-up, mud-covered Chevy truck and picked up our edible garbage for his pigs. Well, the “pig man” is back! Farmers, like Rebecca and her husband Roy Smith, Jeff Kent and Jeremy Gotelli of Windsor’s Takanoko Farms collect food waste from Oliver’s Market, Tierra Vegetables and other local outlets for their piggies, goats and chickens. It’s the “Ultimate Upcycling.” When you are at it reread this post Rebecca wrote for our blog, Step out of Your Food Comfort Zone.

One final bit of hope for our community comes in the form of AB2909, the Small Poultry Producer Protection Act, currently being considered by the state legislature. Hope Springs Eternal, also for state regulations. The bill, spearheaded by Roots of Change, will allow local farmers of less than 20,000 birds to process their birds on the farm, rather than spending two days driving back and forth to a processor in Chico or elsew food and aghere. The benefits –to the birds, to the farmers and to the environment – are obvious. Please join us in supporting this key legislation by writing a short letter – sample letters are available on the Roots of Change website.

One Comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.