Thanks to everyone who came out for our Compost Awareness Day! I get so excited by how many people swing by to learn more about gardening, composting, using finished compost and, more broadly, how to help make Northern Virginia area (and our DMV region) more sustainable!
Also, many thanks to Prince William County Solid Waste, Virginia Cooperative Extension’ (PWC) Master Gardeners, and Keep Prince William Beautiful for hosting tables with such great content!
Below are some photos from the event and the information regarding International Compost Awareness Week.
About International Compost Awareness Week 2023
Every year, the Compost Research and Education Foundation coordinates the International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW). Here is information about ICAW and this year’s theme (from their website)!:
International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) is the largest and most comprehensive education initiative of the compost industry. It is celebrated nationwide and in other countries each year during the first full week of May. The goal of ICAW is to work together to raise public awareness on why we all should be composting our organics recycling and using compost. The program includes poster and video contests in the fall and activities and events held during the week in May. Throughout the week of ICAW, community, school, government and business events are held to encourage and celebrate composting - all types of composting – from backyard to large-scale.
The 2023 International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) theme is truly a collaborative and international effort. This year, we teamed up with the International Compost Alliance (ICA) to select: For Healthier Soil, Healthier Food…Compost! The theme was chosen based on a serious world-wide issue that every nation, unfortunately, experiences: hunger.
One of the initiatives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), is Zero Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. As part of the ICAW committee’s global discussion with our international partners around the world, we spoke the same language, and all wanted to promote a unified theme - aligning a topic important to each country while emphasizing our work with compost.
The chosen 2023 theme best reflects the goal of focusing on how compost can have a role in helping feed the world, by making our soil healthier which produces healthier food. How does compost help? By recycling organics into compost and using it on our farmlands we create healthy soils that produce healthier food and higher yields. It also reduces the need for fertilizer and pesticides, improves water quality and conserves water, as well as stores carbon in soil - helping to reduce climate change. Compost not only helps the environment but also helps to decrease food shortages experienced around the world. For Healthier Soil, Healthier Food…Compost!
-----
About our Freestate Farms Compost & Mulch Facility
Freestate Farms makes premium landscaping products—compost, topsoil, and mulch—by recycling food and yard waste at our Prince William County Compost Facility in Manassas, VA. Our composts, topsoil, and mulches are specially designed to increase the health and productivity of local soils, and with our focus on sustainable practices, this lets the environment and your garden Grow Good, together. We sell bulk compost, bagged compost, bulk natural mulches, bulk dyed mulches, bagged dyed mulches, and bulk topsoil for pickup and delivery.
