THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST
Florencia Ramirez
Podcast
Episodes
Listen, download, subscribe
Compost Tea Party Invite for World Water Day!
• 17 minYou are invited to join me at this year's compost tea party! Send me an email at info@eatlesswater.com if you want to join or would like info on how to throw your own tea party. Below is the Press Release for the event: RIO DEL NORTE TO HOST “COMPOST TEA PARTY” TO SAVE WATER ON WORLD WATER DAY More than 500 students and community volunteers will come together MARCH 22, 2023 to learn how to create pesticide-free landscapes that sequester carbon and save water and will be treated to a special pesticide-free lunch. Oxnard, CA. — In response to global warming and the mega-drought gripping most of the Southwest, Rio Del Norte School students will participate in a school-wide “compost tea party” on Wednesday, March 22, World Water Day, to shower their school grounds with an all-natural soil-enriching brew. Community experts and volunteers will guide 500 pre-kindergarten to 5th-grade students to douse the school’s landscape, gardens, orchard, and play areas with the “tea” in order to build pesticide-free, nutrient-rich soil that will better sequester carbon from the air and save water. Students will also participate in 19 nature-based climate solution workshops led by experts from within the community. We will also have the River Song Band performing some of their smash hits led by Dr. John Puglisi, Rio School District’s Superintendent. “The goal of the compost tea party is to engage the community to eliminate petroleum-based fertilizers and glyphosate pesticides, which the World Health Organization concluded in 2015 probably cause cancer in humans,” said Florencia Ramirez, Oxnard author of the book Eat Less Water, podcaster and director of the Pesticide Free Soil Project, a youth-led organization. “Playgrounds, parks, and gardens are part of the solution to save water on this planet because healthy soil that is untreated with chemicals can hold water up to 1,000 times more than treated soil. The compost tea party is an event to empower young people who want to turn their hope for a healthy environment into action. ” In addition to preparing the compost tea and applying it to the school’s landscape and garden, students will learn about soil science from David White, PhD., Executive Director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture in Ojai, beneficial bugs from Ron Whitehurst, owner of the world-renowned Rincon-Vitova Insectaries in Ventura, and other topics related to soil, organic food, compost, and decomposition from seventeen additional workshop leaders across the county from Ventura County Farm to School, Rio School District’s Farm to School, Oxnard Union High School District’s Farm to School, Master Gardeners, Oxnard High School Culinary Arts, Once Upon a Watershed, etc. The Oxnard High School Food Service & Hospitality students, led by teacher Ms. Debra Gallagher, are looking forward to working with the younger students. “Teaching kids how to prepare healthy snacks using garden vegetables while conserving water will be a fun challenge,” says student chef Harley Louis, junior. “When we run the blender bike workshop for the students we will be teaching them about alternative forms of energy and how to make a healthy drink at the same time,” says Elisa Barragan, senior Food Service student. This will be the second time the Food Service students have volunteered for the Compost Tea Party. Alumni and current college tutor for the program, Ms. Paula Perez, remembers her experience at the Compost Tea Party as “ exciting to be able to teach the students and see how well they retained what they were learning.” Students, staff, and volunteers will eat lunch made with locally-sourced ingredients planned and prepared by Rio School District’s Child Nutrition Services. The event is made possible with financial support from CALEPA to The Encampment.&nb
THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST RSS Feed
