Boston Compost Certificate Program

Do you want to waste less and live more sustainably?

This Boston Compost Certificate Program, in partnership with the City of Boston, digs into the hows and whys of composting in Boston.

This three-day training is designed to help you learn about the impact of food waste on the environment and its connection to climate change. Each module will include practical knowledge, hands-on activities, and guest speakers. This series will begin with a hands-on introduction to soil science at the Boston Nature Center, followed by field trips to Brick End Farm and The Urban Farming Institute.

Participants will experience hands-on composting and gardening techniques, and the program will conclude with an opportunity to explore individual and collective actions to support soil health and mitigate climate change.

This program is open only to Boston residents.

Day 1

Participants will learn about soil science at the Boston Nature Center with a Mass Audubon Teacher Naturalist. Participants will visit the Urban Farming Institute to learn about small scale composting and then return to the Boston Nature Center to start their own composting journey by creating a worm bin to take home.

Composting 101 at the Urban Farming Institute with Urban Farming Institute Farm Staff. Learn the benefits of different types of composting systems, including how to set up compost suitable for apartments, houses, community gardens, and farms!

Day 2

Participants will gain hands-on experience in prepping a garden using compost as well as learning about different methods of gardening. We will explore the living and non-living components of healthy soil.

Dig into the soil at the Boston Food Forrest site and the Clark Cooper community garden site and help prepare the sites for the upcoming gardening season.

Explore soil and compost and the organisms that call it home as well as help to create the soil.

Day 3

Large Scale Compost at the Brick End Farm, with Brick End Farm Staff. Discuss large-scale composting and its challenges and successes. We will return to the Boston Nature Center to finish our day discussing the important role soil plays as a carbon sink in the fight against climate change.

Visiting Brick End Farm will include seeing the methods of composting and discussing future plans to improve composting that has been done at this farm for decades. Participants will see the equipment, dig into the compost, discuss the challenges of large scale composting.