New Resource Guide: 4 Most Common Healthy Soil Farming Practices

Did you know the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) Healthy Soils Program (HSP) provides financial assistance to California farmers, growers, and ranchers for implementation of one or more HSP agricultural management practices to improve soil health, including compost & mulch application, cover cropping, no-till methods, conservation planting, and more? During the last solicitation period, CDFA allocated $67.5 million worth of HSP awards,…

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Solana Center for Environmental Innovation Honored with National Organics Diversion Program of the Year Award

Esteemed national organization US Compost Council recognizes local environmental leader and Encinitas non-profit for impacts in composting education and program implementation SAN DIEGO – The United States Composting Council (USCC) awarded the esteemed achievement award for Organics Diversion Program of the Year to Solana Center for Environmental Innovation which pioneered the first comprehensive curbside recycling…

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Compost: It’s Alive!

The physical and chemical conditions in a compost heap seem logical if you think about what compost really is: an enormous pile of food for billions of minute organisms. These microorganisms have certain chemical requirements, including carbon for energy, nitrogen to build proteins, and oxygen for respiration. The most numerous organisms in a compost pile…

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Learnings from a Master Composter Course

These observations were originally shared by Kaitlin Mitchell of Rutabega Education and have been edited for cohesiveness. Solana Center’s Master Composter courses are a unique opportunity to gain a more in-depth understanding of the art and science of the composting process and empower participants to share this knowledge and passion with others. One participant in…

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Worm Tea, Compost Tea & Leachate

Did you know that you can steep your finished compost or vermicompost in water to create a nutrient-rich liquid called “compost tea” that enriches soil and reduces plant pests and disease? Worm tea, a type of compost tea made from vermicompost, has the same benefits as worm castings but in liquid form. Castings are produced…

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From the Rotline: How Long Until My Compost Is Ready To Use?

Rotline Question: How long will it take until my compost is ready to be used? Answer: The timeline for composting depends on a number of factors. There are three basic approaches to composting which can be mixed and matched based on resources available and the composter’s goals. They are passive composting, active composting, and hot…

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To Reduce Food Waste, Investors and Community Organizations Need to be at the Table

By Bea Miñana (Closed Loop Partners) and Jessica Toth (Solana Center for Environmental Innovation) Food waste is created at every point in our current food supply chain––on the farm, during manufacturing and transportation, on store shelves, at restaurants, and in our homes. Today, most of that uneaten food ends up in landfills, or is otherwise…

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How to Save Your Worm Bins From Aggressive Ants

How do you save your worm bins from aggressive ants? To find the answer, we asked our summer college interns, Maddie and Kelly, to investigate. The worm bins at Solana Center recently experienced an increase in ant populations, possibly due to the decomposing food source and the moisture the bins provided. Although most species of ants will not harm…

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