Haley Preston, Desert Compost | From Kitchen Scraps to Nutrient-Rich Soil: The Benefits of Composting
In this episode of Healthy Desert Healthy You, host Will Dean welcomes Haley Preston, the Founder and Director of Desert Compost, to explore the vital role of composting in our community and the environment. Haley emphasizes how composting enhances ecological resilience and helps reduce waste in landfills. Our conversation reveals the deep connection between composting and soil restoration, highlighting its potential to sequester atmospheric carbon and improve the health of local food systems. We also tackle common misconceptions about composting and discuss how Desert Compost is actively promoting community engagement and education. Listeners are encouraged to see composting as an easy yet powerful way to support our planet and strengthen community ties. Join us for an enlightening discussion that inspires actionable steps toward a more sustainable future through the practice of composting.
Takeaways:
- Composting represents a vital connection between humanity and the earth, fostering ecological stewardship.
- The act of composting significantly mitigates methane emissions generated from landfills, enhancing environmental health.
- Engaging in composting cultivates community resilience, fostering collaboration and shared purpose among individuals.
- Implementing composting practices contributes to water conservation, enhancing the soil's water retention capability for sustainable agriculture.
- Community composting initiatives can facilitate educational opportunities, empowering future generations with environmental awareness.
- Effective composting practices not only enrich soil health but also bolster local food production systems, promoting overall community well-being.
Links referenced in this episode:
- DesertCompost.org
- dhcd.org
- healthydeserthealthyyou.com
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Transcript
The Desert Healthcare District and Foundation presents a podcast that supports your health and wellness where you live. This is Healthy Desert Healthy You, hosted by Will Dean. Now here's Will.
Will Dean, Host:Hello, friends. I hope you're having a beautiful day in our beautiful desert community.
Today I am joined by Haley Preston, who is the founder and director of Desert Compost. Welcome, Haley.
Haley Preston, Guest:Hi, Will. Thanks for having me.
Will Dean, Host:How are you?
Haley Preston, Guest:I'm doing great. Thank you.
Will Dean, Host:Thank you for being here. So I wanted to start out, just to give a general definition. When we talk about composting, what does that mean to you?
And what types of items should we be composting?
Haley Preston, Guest:Composting. What it means to me so much. So much. Well, composting is. Compost is a noun and a verb.
And so compost is a thing in the world and it's something that we can do. And when you talk about things that we can compost, you know, it's pretty much everything.
But we want to talk about, you know, whether you're composting in your backyard or if you're using your city program. And your backyard composting is going to be a little bit different than what you can put in your city composting bin.
But I want to back up just a little bit because you asked me what it means to me, and I don't want to miss the opportunity to talk about that.
So when I think about composting and what it means to me, I think about my love for the planet and people, and that's always been a through line for me is how to connect people to place and each other. And so composting is one of these brilliant methods that is so simple and so overly complicated when people are introduced to it.
So I want to keep it simple, and I want to say that composting is literally the connections of the soil beneath our feet and. And to one another. And that sounds really meta.
Will Dean, Host:I love it. It's beautiful.
Haley Preston, Guest:But to keep it simple, composting is a biological process that is the decomposition of organic materials. And that means anything that is from the earth can go back to the earth in its simplest form, carbon, nitrogen.
Those are the things that we're using in our composting. In terms of what can be composted, your list of carbons is really broad.
You've got cardboard, you've got wood chips, you've got dried grass, you've got your newspapers. Anything that once was alive and now can be used as a carbon ingredient. Then we've got nitrogens, which are your food scraps.
And that can be as basic as a banana peel, or it can be as complicated as your leftover Thanksgiving dinner that you didn't eat. In terms of what you can compost in your backyard, you can compost anything that is not meat, dairy, or oil.
Will Dean, Host:That's wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. Because it shows how broad it is, the items that can be composted. Most people think about food, though.
So I'm wondering how much food actually ends up in the landfill when we don't compost.
Haley Preston, Guest: ou asked that. So way back in:And here we are. It's like the proof point. And I wish I could say that we are being successful with that effort. However, you and I both know it's about habit change.
It's not necessarily about whether or not you're going to do the right thing. It's about how convenient it is to do the right thing.
Will Dean, Host:Yes.
Haley Preston, Guest:And there's no judgment there. I really am hopeful that people are starting to wake up to they can make this change, and they can do it in a simple way.
So on average, per person, each person makes about 11 pounds of compostables per person. Per week.
Will Dean, Host:Per week.
Haley Preston, Guest:Per week. And all of that can end up in a compost pile somewhere, either with your city program, your community composting, or your backyard compost pile.
that the state set for us in: Will Dean, Host:Right. So there's work to do.
Haley Preston, Guest:There is work to do.
Will Dean, Host:And thankfully, desert compost. And you are helping us to do that, educating us and helping us to do that. I want to talk about environmental protection.
What should we know about the benefits of composting in terms of the environment?
Haley Preston, Guest:Yeah. So like you said, desert compost is here because of that education piece.
And we set out not to compost the empire, but really to teach people how to do that themselves. So to take this collective action and to participate in the solution.
So when we think of environmental resilience and caring for our environment, composting is one of the most powerful things that you can do today, not tomorrow, today.
Will Dean, Host:Right.
Haley Preston, Guest:To take that environmental or that action on behalf of the environment. And it is something that people you don't think is as consequential. It's something that people don't think is as consequential as it is.
And compost is essentially you making sure that none of the food scraps from your kitchen or your meals that aren't edible anymore do not end up in the landfill. So to do that, we want to make it easy on you.
We want to say, keep a container close by that you can put this material in and make sure it gets to the right place. And in terms of the environment and why that's so important.
One, when you don't send your food scraps to the landfill, that means they are not going to a place where they are going to sit and fester and emit methane. Because contrary to popular belief, food scraps do not break down in landfills. Landfills are anaerobic. That means no oxygen exists there.
And we need oxygen in order to make good compost and good soil.
Will Dean, Host:That's another great point. Thank you for that.
Haley Preston, Guest:And two, composting is actually part of a drawdown effect. And the drawdown effect means that when we return organic material back to the soil, it interacts with the atmosphere.
And that means that it pulls it actually draws carbon out of the atmosphere and fixes it into the soil. And when we do that, it's super cool. Because guess what loves carbon? The plants. And so we've got that.
And then the other best part about this is that compost, when you add it to the soil, actually increases the soil's water holding capacity. That means it soaks up that water and makes it bioavailable for plants. And it holds it like a sponge.
So you don't actually have to water your plants as much when you're using compost in your soil.
Will Dean, Host:I love that. And there's so many concerns about water usage and conservation. And this is one way to sort of two birds with one stone.
Haley Preston, Guest:Exactly. And then the fourth thing that we think about, maybe we're on the third, but I've got two more for you. The third is our food systems.
We think about the relative health of a civilization is always directly related to the health of its food system. Most of us and myself included, until I started this work, I was disconnected from where my food came from and how it was grown. Most of us are.
And that's okay. We lead fast paced lives. And not all of us are thinking about where our carrots are grown.
Will Dean, Host:Right.
Haley Preston, Guest:But what we know is that when we restore and we repair the soil using compost, that we're actually increasing the nutrient value of our food, and we're repairing the soil's ability to grow food. So that's the other component of this. And then the fourth one is really, really dear to my heart.
Will Dean, Host:What is that one?
Haley Preston, Guest:It is composting actually builds climate resilience through community. And when we say community, you know, we learned a lot from the pandemic. We learned that we need one another.
Will Dean, Host:Absolutely.
Haley Preston, Guest:And so when people have opportunities to engage in purposeful work together, that builds action, efficacy, hope, opportunity, shared purpose and strength. We feel like we can do it. We feel like we can get up out of bed in the morning and do it again and take action.
And that is what climate resilience demands. It demands community, but we have to learn how to build it. And building it happens when we are in that collective space of shared purpose.
Will Dean, Host:I love that. So there are tremendous benefits in terms of environmental protection and sustainability to composting.
I want to talk a little bit about how you work, how desert compost works in the valley, because I understand you don't have your own facility or your own space. So how do residents who are interested in composting get started with you?
Haley Preston, Guest:Well, we love all of our volunteers, and we have 11 community composting sites that we've started and uplifted across the entire Inland Empire. That's one way. The other way to get to know us is to come out and either educate the public.
If you love talking about compost, you can hang out with us at our education tables, or really just do us the favor of getting to know your community. And like you were saying, will you have a green bin at where you live?
Will Dean, Host:I do.
Haley Preston, Guest:And you wanted to make sure that people were using it. Right?
Will Dean, Host:Right.
Haley Preston, Guest:Even that is a step in the right direction.
And it's no small thing to be paying attention and to be in conversation with our community about those little things that are going to make a big difference.
Will Dean, Host:I want to talk about the 11 sites you have. Are there locations on your website or how do people find out where they are?
Haley Preston, Guest:Sure. Yeah. We've got on our website, they're all autonomous community composting sites.
And what we didn't really talk about was the difference between community composting and all of the other types of composting that is out there. And so community composting didn't exist in the desert before desert compost began four years ago.
Will Dean, Host:So what does that mean? What was happening? Was anything happening?
Haley Preston, Guest:No. There was a lot of disbelief that compost could even happen. In the desert. And so we worked really hard to dispel that myth.
And then we've worked really hard to model these hyperlocal sites that are composting basically a thousand pounds or less per week on a community scale.
That means volunteers are coming out and they're taking food scraps and carbon wood chips, and they're building soil that they, A, grow food with and share the food, or B, they share the soil sometimes both.
Will Dean, Host:Right. And four years ago. That's not that long ago.
Haley Preston, Guest:Not that long ago.
Will Dean, Host:And you're already making an impact in the community.
Haley Preston, Guest:Yes, we've diverted over £600,000 of organics from heading into the landfill. And that's just like we said, in four short years, and we've educated over a thousand students in K through 12 schools about composting.
And those schools now have composting programs. Either vermicomposting, which is composting with worms, or composting in their school garden.
Will Dean, Host:That is so impressive. And we're talking about across the Coachella Valley.
Haley Preston, Guest:Across the Coachella Valley.
Will Dean, Host:That is amazing. So what are some misunderstandings or misperceptions about composting?
Haley Preston, Guest:Well, first of all, like we talked about, oh, you can't compost in the desert. Yes, yes, you can.
And so one of the misunderstandings is, well, if I have to water my compost pile more in the desert, doesn't that use a lot of water?
And like we talked about earlier, it's actually like we're using more water when we're not composting and adding the finished compost to our soil, because you've seen our sand and our, you know, different types of soil here. It does not retain the water. So we have to restore the organic matter using compost.
So I think some of the other misunderstandings is that compost can be smelly, and it certainly can if it's not done with a balance. So you always want to make sure that you have a balance of carbon and nitrogen.
And when we're talking about composting specifically, we're saying it can be smelly. When you're creating compost, we're not talking about you taking out your. Your organics bin and having it sit there and smell. That's not composting.
That's just you taking food scraps out to a bin where they need to be picked up and then properly recycled. So the misunderstanding is that if you build compost in your backyard, that A, might smell, b, might attract some unwanted pests, rodents, or bugs.
Again, it's about the Balance. And so Desert Compost will actually teach you. We have our education ambassadors that will share with you how to properly compost in your backyard.
And we can teach you in two minutes. That's our stick. Will teach you in two minutes.
Will Dean, Host:Can anyone learn to compost? What is the age range that you recommend people begin to learn?
Haley Preston, Guest:I love this so much because some of our most fierce advocates and educators have been our students and they're just gaga for compost. So I could, you know, I would say that if a 9 year old can compost, we can too.
Will Dean, Host:Yes. So I'm going to talk about collaboration because that seems to be an important component of your composting philosophy.
How does that show up in your work other than the. The 11 sites you talked about?
Haley Preston, Guest:Yeah, collaboration. It speaks right to how we started this conversation, which is what is composting? And composting does not happen in a vacuum. It's a network.
And it's built with the network of microbes and fungi and the brilliant connections that those microbes and fungi created to communicate across the soil to the trees, to the plants, to the atmosphere, to inform our entire planet. When I think about that, that's like the smallest illustration, that's a microscopic illustration of what it looks like for people to do the same.
Will Dean, Host:Okay.
Haley Preston, Guest:When I think about the importance of that, both how we take care of the network of soil microbes by regenerating the soil through composting, I think about how that translates to how we take care of each other and network together. And there's so many really worthy environmental efforts that are contributing to health, to care for people and the land here.
And I'm so appreciative of the people that you've invited on your show because you're starting to, like, generate that conversation that is so needed amongst the people who are doing this work and then the community that is affected by it. So when I think about collaboration, I think we could do it better.
I think that we could be more unified, more fortified, and, thanks to you, more amplified.
Will Dean, Host:Well, thank you. I really appreciate. Collaboration has always been a really important tenet of what the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation does.
e. First one was in September: Haley Preston, Guest:Can't wait to come back.
Will Dean, Host: to have it again in September:So for Our listeners, where should they go if they want to learn more, they want to engage with desert compost. What's the best way to do that?
Haley Preston, Guest:Thank you. You can find us at www. DesertCompost.org.
and you can also learn about how we are building those collaborations through our new project called the Desert Climate Alliance. And that's where we're stepp, the same arena of climate resilience work that all of these wonderful, worthy organizations are in.
Our goal is to bring us together so that we can be more effective in our collaborations and so that we can build this other piece around climate resilience, which looks like collective efficacy. It goes right back to, how do we have this shared sense of purpose around building climate resiliency and in the valley? And we have to do that.
We have to pull ourselves out of the vacuum and strengthen the network. So Desert Climate alliance is our next project to do that.
Will Dean, Host:I love it. So thank you, Hayley. And for those of you listening, as Haley said, you can start today.
Haley Preston, Guest:Start today. Get your container. Make sure everything that's coming out of your kitchen is going in that container.
If you do not have a receptacle provided to you by your garbage company, make sure that you call them and get one. You're entitled to it. It's your right as a Californian to have this service. And if that is not an option for you, then start one in your backyard.
Start a compost pile in your backyard. You can have a closed container. That's easy. It's no muss, no fuss. You throw your food scraps in there.
At the end of the day, you put a couple buckets of paper shavings or cardboard. Everybody has cardboard, so that's all it takes. And you will increase our valley's ability to be more climate resilient.
You're going to strengthen our local food systems by not polluting the environment and sending that stuff to the landfill. You're going to help the valley conserve water. You're going to make people happier, which that's an understated, undervalued thing these days.
And you're going to model it for the next generation, because this is something that is an inheritance. And we want to make sure that we are stewarding our resources for the next generations so that they can enjoy what we've enjoyed.
Will Dean, Host:Right? So there's great education, great tips on your website. What is your website?
Haley Preston, Guest:It's www. DesertCompost.org.
Will Dean, Host:There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Hayley.
Haley Preston, Guest:Thank you so much. Will.
Show Announcer:Thank you for joining us on this episode of Healthy Desert Healthy You. This podcast is a production of the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation in Palm Springs, California.
For more information, please visit the website dhcd.org. Our annual conference site is healthydeserthealthyyou.com. This podcast is available at most major podcast portals, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Audible, Captivate.FM, Spotify, and YouTube Music. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe.
