Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Children’s Books to Spark Composting Curiosity

Guest blogger Angela Rivera


As parents, grandparents, teachers, and neighbors, we hope the children in our lives carry on some of the habits we teach them growing up. Composting is no exception. In today’s blog I suggest three books to share with your young ones to inspire passion about, and get them helping with, composting! All three of these books are available at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.



The Little Composter by Jan Gerardi (2010) is a great resource to engage your toddler. With flipbook pages that allow for even the youngest child to partake in the book, this book reviews a few of the items we can put in the compost bin. And for those kids beginning to read, the story is written in rhyme! Although simple, if you remember back when you first started to learn about composting, answering “what should go in the bin?” was where we all began!



Compost Stew: an A to Z Recipe for the Earth by Mary Mckenna Siddals (2010) makes an excellent book that lists items we can compost for each letter of the alphabet. The reading level is for upper elementary, but the content is aimed at younger elementary aged children, making it a great read-aloud story! With this book, you can encourage children to take responsibility for where they should put their food scraps.



Garbage Helps our Garden Grow: A Compost Story by Linda Glaser (2010) follows a group of children on their composting endeavor. The book explains how composting can divert organic material from the garbage and make something useful out of it. This is a great nonfiction text that demonstrates for your child not only what goes in our compost bin/site, but explains the entire process of how to make compost and what we can do with it!  This book is intended for upper elementary age students.

As you embark on your summer of composting, get youth involved! They are our future composters after all!

Did we miss your favorite children’s composting book? Leave the title and author in the comments. Be on the lookout this fall for a blog post about great composting books for adults! 

Monday, May 7, 2018

Three Ways to Celebrate Composting Awareness Week


Whoop whoop! Hey there, composting peeps! Did you know that this week is International Compost Awareness Week? 

Here are three easy ways to spread the composting love and celebrate this week.

  1. Give your own compost a little attention. Now is a great time to turn or aerate those piles to avoid odors and speed up your compost. As you pull all those spring weeds, toss them in the compost bin or leaf pile to reap the benefits of all that nitrogen.
  2. Tell your friends and family about our free composting class this week. On Thursday, May 10 we will be in Deer Park with a one-hour Get the Dirt on Backyard Composting. You can share the event on Facebook.
  3. Make sure everyone knows your deep love of composting by proudly displaying an “I heart Compost” magnet. If you want to pick one up for free from our office, just shoot me an email


Wear your “compost geek” badge proudly this week, fellow composters; it is our week to shine.