Feeling like you’d like to do something environmentally sensitive for Earth Month?  Join Northwest Park Naturalist Chuck Drake and Windsor Historical Society Educator Julia Baldini on Saturday, April 11th from

11 a.m. to noon for a review of basic composting techniques that will help you turn yard and kitchen wastes into black gold with very little trouble.  Whether you are just getting started or having problems with your composting program, this presentation will help you feel comfortable with yard waste management.

Farmers have been composting since prehistoric times and in colonial New England, Native peoples and English settlers used fish and “muck” or manure to enrich growing soils.   In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, knowledge of traditional composting methods began to die as chemical fertilizers became more widely used.  Today, fully 30 percent of the waste materials generated by Americans come from the kitchen and the yard. 

Composting is a natural way to recycle plant wastes such as grass clippings, leaves, vegetable and fruit scraps and coffee grounds which decompose into a moist, dark humus that absorbs sunlight and enriches garden beds.  Chuck Drake will show you what materials make the best compost and what materials are not suitable for home composting as well as how to balance compost ingredients, maintain your compost pile and prevent animal pests.  Cost for the program is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and students and $4 for WHS members.  Parking is available in the Windsor Discovery Center Parking Lot and around Palisado Green.