Winter Quarterly Newsletter – 2020
Dear Solana Center Community,
What a challenging year it has been…and it isn’t over yet! With Covid, our programs changed as we saw the environmental impacts of behavior change (e.g., eating home versus at restaurants and greater waste generation from home cleaning and DIY projects). We were able to creatively pivot and adjust to these trying times. We remain open to the public and have had no staff layoffs – two things I’m very proud of. Our incredible team retooled our education programs for virtual delivery to meet the community’s heightened appetite for classes of all kinds. If you are able, please consider a donation to support our ongoing work.
And now to our upcoming programming… As we head into the last month of the year, we are excited to offer new opportunities to help your family minimize waste disposal and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions through the winter season.
For a limited time, we are offering a Holiday Special to participate in our Food Cycle community compost program at a reduced fee of $15. It is estimated that between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, three times as much food is discarded than at other times of the year. Let us help you divert your food scraps from the landfill and make nutrient-rich compost instead of greenhouse gases this festive season.
If you’re interested in learning how to compost at home, we have a fresh lineup of virtual workshops covering a variety of composting topics from vermicomposting to manure management small-scale horse ranches and everything in between. If you have specific questions, our team is here to provide one-on-one support or information around zero waste and composting via our Rotline. Give us a call at (760) 436-7986 ex. 700, book a 1:1 meeting or email compost@solanacenter.org.
Wishing you all continuous health and joy as we head into the holiday season and New Year! There are many exciting programs ahead in 2021 including the launch of our spring rain barrel program in the coming weeks.
Sustainably yours,
Jessica Toth
Executive Director
Rotline Question: Why should I add eggshells to my worm bin?
Answer: A common type of kitchen waste, eggshells have multiple benefits when added to your worm bin from aiding digestion to possibly increasing your worm population.
How can I keep my trash bins from overflowing? It’s a question that many of us have asked ourselves over the years. And with so many of us staying at home for significantly more time than usual, trash management has become a sisyphean task. It likely seems clear that the best way to reduce waste from filling up your garbage cans (and ending up in the landfill) is to reduce the amount of surplus generated and divert usable items. Somewhat easier said than done, dive into some ways you can reduce the amount of waste you generate with these tips.
Volunteer of the Month: Terry Davis
Terry has been a Solana Center volunteer for many years and is integral to our on-site worm maintenance. She is very enthusiastic about composting and has a goal to have everyone’s backyard include a worm bin one day! Terry picks up juice pulp every week from the local juice shop to feed to the worms and is quite the advocate of teaching others about vermicomposting. Thank you, Terry!
Webinar: Recycling Organics into Resources
Sponsored by the City of Encinitas
Webinar: Bokashi Basics
Bokashi is an innovative technique that allows you to compost ALL your food waste, reduces compost time, and allows fresh materials to be preserved and composted at your leisure. Learn how bokashi can complement your at-home composting in this 1-hour webinar!
Sponsored by the City of San Diego Environmental Services
Backyard Composting Instagram LIVE Q&A
Have questions about starting a backyard compost bin or maintaining a happy compost pile? Join us for an Instagram Live Q&A session on for an interactive discussion where you can write in your questions for our education team to answer LIVE!
Sponsored by the City of San Diego Environmental Services
Friday, December 4th
3:00 – 3:20 pm
Follow us on Instagram to tune into this free Q&A session.
Basics of Backyard Composting Webinar
Backyard composting is an economical and effective way to recycle organic materials and keep them out of the landfill. In doing so, you not only reduce air pollution from methane gas, you can also improve the quality of your soil, and save energy, money, and water. Learn how you can improve the quality of your soil, reduce waste and air pollution, while saving energy, money, and water by composting in your backyard.
Sponsored by the City of San Diego Environmental Services
Saturday, December 5th
2:00 – 3:00 pm
Free Virtual Webinar
Webinar: Vermicomposting Basics
Sponsored by the City of San Diego Environmental Services
6:00 – 7:00 pm
Free Virtual Webinar
Urban Farming Composting Webinar
Sponsored by the City of San Diego Environmental Services
10:00 – 11:00 am
Free Virtual Webinar
Webinar: Manure Management for the Small Ranch or Farm
Sponsored by the County of San Diego
6:00 – 7:00 pm
Free Virtual Webinar
Vermicomposting Facebook LIVE Q&A
Sponsored by the County of San Diego
3:00 – 3:20 pm
Free Virtual Q&A
GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement, unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. Join Solana Center this Tuesday, December 1 as we band together in generosity for GivingTuesday. With your support, we can make big strides to advocate for and work towards environmental change in our community!
Gift joy this season by designating Solana Center as your AmazonSmile donation recipient for a simple and automatic way to support our environmental work as you do your holiday shopping! Log on to smile.amazon.com and donate at no additional cost to you. You can also check out our online store for some great gift ideas to help support local.