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Support Star City Compost and Our Origin Story

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          The Harvest Collective is  ready to bring food waste recycling to the Roanoke Valley.  Since 2019, there has been an imminent prospect that we would develop a business plan to establish Roanoke’s first food waste collection program and composting facility. Over the course of these years, we have gone through multiple iterations of what this business could be. Meanwhile, our organization has also explored avenues of community gardening and perennial food forestry, all within the context that this community gardening movement could reach a larger audience by integrating food waste recycling as an option for Roanokers.           Now, at the end of 2022, w e are almost ready to launch Star City Compost – as Roanoke’s first compost facility and food waste recycling option in the Spring of 2023. We’ve established a good operations and site plan for a compost facility, we’ve signed a 5 year lease to the property, we’ve saved $20K to support the project, we’ve got a good core team t
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May and June Recap - Interdependence

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A great deal of sensitive concern and observation is necessary to begin to understand why Nature depends on an apparently chaotic disorder. ― Viktor Schauberger Many of us feel very torn, bitter, and even helpless as we watch the news and see our country grow more hostile to ourselves, our friends and family, and our community. But we cannot afford to be neutral on a moving train. We believe that a much-needed response to systemic decay is the building of trust between community members and an increase in collaboration. Our work as members of THC embodies a practical solution to the problems we are experiencing.  In these past two months, we have watched our spring seedlings transform into an abundant harvest. A myriad of greens, beans, carrots, and peas in our meals have made us grateful for the hard work in which we have shared, and the abundance that a few inches of topsoil can provide (when well managed). The Harvest Collective has also been providing support at Lick Run Farm , whe
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March and April Workdays Recap

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Frozen ground ripens, Creating room for new life. Sow seeds and live well. "Every Year" Our first workday this year was a warm welcome to the growing season. We met up and sewed our first seeds for the greenhouse. Collards, broccoli, cabbage seeds, and more were given a nice bed of our potting soil mix. With a new year, some new faces also emerged and we were able to share stories about how Roanoke became our homes and how we were attracted to working in the collective. Over the next few weeks, we laid tarps for occultation. Occultation is weeding with tarps, where the ground is covered blocking out all light. This is used for weed management in no-till systems.  We also have installed fences and planted six 22' x 5' garden beds where we are now watching seedlings emerge. Soon we will have radishes, kale, carrots, potatoes, onions, mustard, potatoes, beets, beans, cabbage, broccoli, and tea herbs. We hope to see you at our next workday. You can learn about becoming a
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Location: Roanoke, VA, USA
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