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Finding a home for the North Country’s Food Waste

We caught up with Alex French Clarkson University’s  Sustainability Coordinator to ask about the recent food waste New York State mandate that went into effect on January 1st, 2022.

Alex French

Can you share the backstory about the recent activities in NYS with Food waste diversion. How are ‘large generators of food waste’ defined? 

Alex: The NYS Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law went into effect in January of 2022. It defines large generators of food waste as companies or institutions that generate 2 tons of food waste per week. These entities are now required to donate edible food rather than throwing it out. If there is a food recycling facility (composting or anaerobic digester) available within 25 miles then inedible food is required to be sent there.

Why tackle food waste on a community level? 

Alex: Tackling this environmental and social issue at the community level will give us the economies of scale to make food recycling viable. I like how NYS has structured this new law to have the larger generators get everything off the ground.

How did Clarkson become involved with this food waste diversion initiative? 

Alex: This project was originally discussed by the Potsdam Climate Smart Communities Task Force. After deciding that we wanted to look into community-scale food waste management the task force asked Clarkson to take the lead. This became a win-win scenario for us because we were able to engage many students in the process through internships. 

Compost piles at Blue Line Compost in Saranac Lake

How much food waste does Clarkson generate on a weekly basis? 

Alex: The DEC estimates that we generate 5 tons of food waste per week during the semester. We think this estimate is high. We are still trying to understand exactly how much food waste we generate. There are so many different sources of food waste on campus! We have good estimates of pre-consumer waste from kitchen prep work but we do not have a clear understanding of our post-consumer food waste from 2 of our 3 main dining areas nor for our residential areas. We hope to have a better understanding by the end of the semester. Read more Finding a home for the North Country’s Food Waste

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Finding plants that feed friendly insects

bouquet of yellow, orange, pink, red, purple, and white flowers
The prospect of growing cut flowers is so very appealing during February in upstate NY!

I don’t know about you, but this time of year I start daydreaming of all the plants I can’t wait to grow in my garden once it gets warm. The virtual and hard copy seed catalogs that fill my mailbox and my inbox are full of so many beautiful pictures and inviting suggestions. How to choose?

Well, if one of your goals for your 2022 garden is to provide good habitat for beneficial insects that eat pest insects (natural enemies of pests), here’s some advice…

Look for pollen and nectar producers

Flowers that provide plenty of pollen and nectar make great habitat for natural enemies. This is because some natural enemies also eat pollen or nectar (or both). For example, this adult hover fly feeds on the pollen and nectar produced by this bachelor’s button.

Black and yellow hover fly visiting a purple flower made up of a cluster of small petals
An appreciation for bachelor’s button flowers is something I share with this hover fly

Flowers that produce pollen and nectar also attract other insects that natural enemies feed on (including lots of neutral insects, so the net effect is positive). This ambush bug is hanging out on a zinnia waiting for other insects to wander by and become lunch.

Dark brown and yellow insect on a zinnia with cream-colored petals flecked with pink
This ambush bug doesn’t seem too well camouflaged to me, but hopefully its prey didn’t notice it

How do you know if a plant will produce flowers rich in pollen and nectar? Read more Finding plants that feed friendly insects

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Inspiration for Gardeners

Gardeners are always searching for something—a new variety of rose, disease-resistant tomatoes, or a magnolia that will survive our North Country winters. There are countless sources for garden information and inspiration these days, so I recently asked my fellow Master Gardeners to recommend books, blogs, podcasts, and movies to delve into during the off-season and boy did they deliver! These recommendations come with a disclaimer: there are no guarantees that you won’t go down a rabbit hole one of these chilly winter days and not emerge until spring warms the ground, but at least you will have had some fun and will have learned more about backyard gardening. Enjoy!

PODCASTS AND BLOGS AND CHANNELS

Melissa K. Norris

Melissa is a 5th generation homesteader who teaches how to use modern homesteading to grow, preserve and cook your own food. Her newsletters are great! You never know if she’s going to be plugging a new garden video, teaching how to dry beans pioneer style, or sharing how to change grandma’s pickle recipes to can them safely today. Check out her Pioneering Today podcast too! Email info@melissaknorris.com for her newsletter.

MIGardener

Luke and Sindy Marion created MIGardener to inspire others to garden, live healthier lives, and have fun doing it. Their videos are great for beginners, but also have in-depth information about many rather specific topics. They know northern gardening. Join the Facebook group: MIgardener 

Joe Gardener

Joe Lamp’l hosted Fresh From the Garden for the DIY Network, hosted a show on PBS that toured gardens around the country, then created and produced the Emmy Award-winning Growing a Greener World. Now he talks and writes about gardening. His website contains organic gardening information. There is a wonderful “Resources” section full of links about different subjects (Pest and Insect ID, Disease ID, Butterflies, Birding, Plant Lists, Invasives, etc.)

The Joe Gardener podcast is all about organic gardening.  He often has guests that we’ve all heard of: authors, scientists, and educators in the field, some of whom he teams up with to offer online courses. Beginners can get a lot from his podcasts, but they always go deep as well. His conversations with his composting guests are kind of like listening to a couple of rocket scientists who garden on weekends.   Read more Inspiration for Gardeners