Tim Bennett of Bennett Compost making a delivery to Neighborhood Foods Farm

When Ryan, UTC’s agricultural director, told me that we’re now partnering with Bennett Compost, I got really excited! As a person who’s been recycling and composting for many years, I love hearing about Tim Bennett’s Philly composting business. He picks up his customer’s buckets filled with  disintegrating vegetable remains by night (“our compost fairies come in the night and whisk away your food waste, leaving the empty container for you to retrieve in the morning”) and uses sites around the city to convert the stuff into usable, rich compost.  Not only does the service help people to lessen their trash load, but reducing the amount of  the methane that would normally be generated by the vegetable waste   is huge. As the Bennett Compost website says “methane emissions from landfills are a leading contributor to climate change.”  PLUS he employs teens in the neighborhoods where his composting sites are located to turn the steaming piles every week!  It’s definitely a win, win, win situation!

Ryan gathered a bunch of ever useful free pallets and together Tim and farm crew members Que and Raheem  constructed the bins at the Neighborhood Foods Farm.  With Tim’s weekly vegetable scrap deliveries, coffee grounds collections and reserved fall leaves, the bins are really filling up. We’re looking for a willing neighborhood teen to do the turning.

Speaking of steaming piles, you can tell that the mounds at the Farm are indeed composting. A thermometer with a long probe  inserted into the middle of one reads (click to enlarge) 140 plus degrees!

In a matter of weeks, the finished compost will get mixed into the soil to nourish the spring crops. We invite you to check out Bennett Compost and sign on for the service as a way to recycle your vegetable leftovers and to join Neighborhood Foods CSA to partake of the bounty of our locally grown food.

Your food becomes your food!

- Sue Witte, UTC’s volunteer coordinator