Thank you to Black Earth Compost for joining our third graders in the GUS Greenhouse to teach them about the composting process, let them get their hands dirty in some fresh compost, and, maybe most importantly, show them how the truck works!

Third graders got to ask a lot of questions about what is or is not compostable. Back in the classroom they will continue to learn about the intricate food web of the compost pile, and get to know the various decomposers responsible for turning our waste into soil. They will start their own ‘mini-composters’ and conduct an experiment looking at plant growth in various components like compost, sand, soil, etc.

GUS has been composting leftover food for nearly two decades, with Chris Doyle heading the operation for the past five years in third grade. He and co-teacher Karianna Brace work with Black Earth Compost, a full-service company out fo Gloucester that collects food scraps, converts them to compost, and return the product to customers and garden centers to improve growing soil.

“The overall theme in third grade is Where am I going? so we like to think of compost as a means of thinking about ourselves in the context of the whole earth,” Karianna explains. “What is our role in keeping our food waste local and how can we responsibly return our waste to the earth.”

Learn more about GUS’s sustainability efforts in the latest edition of The Tartan.