Food Waste, Or Not

In her poem called, “We Are One” (found in this month’s Soul Matters Materials), Reverend Karen Anderson says, 

The truth is we make this planet about us, and only us
and when we do, the earth calls our separate selves back, singing:
“Ask yourself, you beautiful, thoughtful, gorgeous species, 
How much of the planet are you really entitled to?
How much of the planet are you really entitled to?“

Two years before the pandemic Bob and I invested in a composter. We had done a good bit of research prior to investing in this startup and were really pleased when this giant bin arrived. We successfully refurbished much of our food scraps and re-homed the fresh compost in our backyard. Unfortunately it died during the pandemic. I called the home office in Canada and was told that the founder, along with a few critical investors had died from Covid and this solitary person was the only one left offering tech support in a soon to be closed company. We shared composting stories while he talked me through a last stitch effort to get the composter going again before we decided we both were ‘done in’. He was in tears about the loss of this dear friend whose dream he had championed for about 8 years at this point. We promised each other not to give up on this journey.  We agreed to repurpose food scraps in our kitchens as best we could since neither of us lived on a farm or in enough acreage to warrant anything more extensively organic outside. 

I found myself wanting to throw in the towel. I tried and failed. I thought this was a good idea but things like this were not going to work for me. I would save the planet another way. And then I noticed the second wave of composters hit social media. They were smaller and more affordable and so I went back to the conversation I had with this man whose name I can’t remember but the commitment we made to do our part is still with me. 

We now have the 2.0 version of a small composter that sits in our kitchen and will efficiently turn our food waste into compost which I take to the keyhole garden at church or share other gardeners in our beloved community. 

The best thing about this is that with this commitment still strong I am finding other ways to live with thoughtful regard to mother earth. Blessed be. 

~Lydia Patrick