Dear IFSCC Community,
Thank you to everyone who had a hand in making our 2023 International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) celebration such a wonderful success. This year’s theme was For Healthier Soil, Healthier Food… Compost! Perhaps you were part of our talented and amazing ICAW team, coordinated an Adventure in Composting (AIC), or happening at a library, attended one of the marvelous programs or events throughout the week, or commented on or liked one of our posts. To all of you who contributed to and supported these efforts, a heartfelt thank you.
We believe we were able to reach well over 1,000 people during the week and possibly a great many more, whether they attended an Adventure in Composting, Zoom program, compost give-back event, or walked past a library display. Some programs had close to 200 people in attendance and others had smaller, more intimate gatherings which were just as noteworthy and important. People had the opportunity for some longer, deeper discussions and experiences.
The week offered so many opportunities for learning and sharing. Just like the “…Wonderful Life” film with Jimmy Stewart, we can never fully tell the impact or reach we have, as one story illustrates so beautifully: One of the Adventures in Composting sites was a compost container build & demonstration. The host told us that he had around 15 people visit him that day during Adventures and said he’d love to do this again next year with us. Our own IFSCC staff member, Amy Bartucci, happened to be attending a Green Drinks presentation weeks later. The speaker that evening was talking about an experience he had, and a man he had met who had built a bin and demoed it at – guess what? – an IFSCC ICAW Adventure in Composting event! So now, that one event in Palatine, Illinois has reached a whole new crew of people who attended the Green Drinks event in Park Ridge, Illinois, and who knows where they might share it.
One bustling library had a whole wall dedicated to ICAW for the full week, so we can’t even imagine how many people may have passed by and picked up a book, activity, or resource from there.
Our core line-up this year included the joyful, soil-ful Adventures in Composting (AIC), a very informative Legislative Lunch & Learn, an inspirational International Café presentation, library programming including displays, story-times, and special presentations, University of Illinois Extension’s ‘Appy Hour, compost give-backs, and other happenings throughout the week. It was a week filled with compost goodness. AIC included adventures throughout 6 different counties in the state–truly a mix of experiences where people could see, smell and touch compost, including small farm tours and visits that highlighted ways to regenerate the soil, including composting and livestock. And who could resist being greeted by adorable, young piglets, welcoming guests to a very special farm adventure? There were community garden tours with pollinator plant and seed giveaways, prairie restoration tours, and monarch waystation visits. They included opportunities to sample fresh veg and fruits grown with compost and a marketplace to purchase and take them home, including programs at local schools. There were opportunities to learn about vermicomposting, backyard composting, municipal curbside composting programs, urban agriculture, and growing healthy food to feed people, as well as many other related topics. Compost and Cocktails, Reg Wiggler Buffets, fun and games at a We Compost-recognized restaurant, Vineyard tours, and more were also included in our day of adventure.
We were lucky to have a sunny and beautiful day and some of us were even able to travel to more than one adventure. It was a unique opportunity to have some fun while providing various opportunities for people to learn how they can impact their little corner of the world with their own adventures in composting and understand that they will also be playing a part in something that reaches and impacts the greater planet beyond. As we said after a short but uplifting trip around the globe, at the close of our International Café presentation….compost can change the world!
Merleanne Rampale & Kate Caldwell, Your ICAW 2023 Co-Chairs