Local Composting Site in Ridgewood Queens NY

⚘ WELCOME

Hello my name is Yoon Grace Na. In reading this I hope you feel a sense of peace and encouragement. 
Some of my offerings are:
Producing cultural & community gatherings + ceremonies, compost education, gender education, filmmaking, and urban farming.

For the past year I’ve been taking steps towards opening a composting site in Ridgewood, Queens NY after taking the Master Composter course with NYC Compost Project + Department of Sanitation in 2019.
(@Snug Harbor, Staten Island with Carol Hooper, Natalie Nowlen, and Olivia Golden) 

I'm sharing this crowdfunding to receive support! (financial, mentorship, informational, etc)

Since this is a land based project on Turtle Island, we will be seeking permission from the Indigenous caretakers of the local land before we begin. 


❃~.~❃❃     INDEX      ❃❃~.~❃


1. What is compost?

2. What are local compost sites?
 
3.  My personal approach

4. Bigger picture 


❃~.~❃❃~.~❃❃~.~❃❃~.~❃




⚘ WHAT IS COMPOST ?

When people manage the growing process, we usually call it farming or gardening.  When people manage the decomposition process, we call it composting. 

This means we can assist the decomposition of our food scraps, cardboard boxes, and other organic matter (anything that once lived) into something called compost.

Compost and soil may look similar but they are not the same thing. Instead, compost is what you feed soil, its like a big nutrients boost to nourish soil and whatever grows in it (like food~)



⚘ WHAT HAPPENS AT A LOCAL COMPOST SITE ?


Images from "Composting for the People":  BUFU 's WYFY School 2019

Compost sites are cool because it's an example of a "closed loop system". It can open up jobs and create a powerful sense of autonomy because neighbors are managing their own waste production and supporting their own food production.

Check out these compost sites and initiatives for reference:
(BKRot , Composting at Red Hook Farms , 45th St Composters , GreenFeen  )


Graphics from ISLR Institute of Local Self Reliance



⚘ PERSONAL APPROACH

My parents emigrated from Korea to New York in the 80's to Queens NY, Lenape land. Connecting to other compost sites and green projects in Queens (and greater NY/NJ/PA) is a relationship commitment to what the land and the first caretakers have offered me. 

This fund will support in the grant writing and planning labor for all involved and initial equipment costs. Raising this money is the most grounding way for my team and I to start, as the option of taking over a lot and "asking for forgiveness later" is not safe for those at high risk regarding legal or police involvement.

This project is supported by a personal network of qtBIPoC (queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, people of color) who are: neighbors, small business owners, urban farmers, artists, nightlife organizers, migrant justice organizers, sex worker justice organizers and just really solid people in my life who use their creativity to try and create nourishing spaces and systems.


⚘ BIGGER PICTURE

This funding is not just towards an end-goal of opening the compost site, but part of a long-term commitment towards building healthy systems around us and inside ourselves.

Research: 


Composting offers me ways/frameworks to envision personal transformation, local community transformation, and larger systemic transformation.

I am expanding on this research and will share resources and references down the line. I am currently writing a zine/book and working on other embodied community-based projects (like this compost site!) with this approach.

Thank you for your considerations and offerings<333
 
with gratitude,
Yoon 윤