We left Kings Beach this morning around 8:30. After driving along the lake back to Carson City (and back over the border), I dropped off Dave, Austin, and Austin’s Uncle Bill at the parking lot that was the conclusion to yesterday’s ride. I then went to city hall to chat about Carson City’s waste collection program. I was redirected to the Public Operations Facility, where I spoke with a woman named Cindy, the secretary of operations. She told me about the city’s curbside leaf and limb program. However, the yard clippings are only collected curbside twice a year, in the fall and in the spring. The clippings are then sent to a landfill about 5 miles outside of the city, where they are composted. It’s interesting that the farther I get from the Bay Area, the less comprehensive the compost program seems to be. A lot of that has to do with location I think, and the difficulty in transporting compostable materials. It’s also interesting that Davis is the only place I’ve seen composting food so far. Food scraps are much more nutrient-rich than yard clippings, so the compost—a natural fertilizer—would make much more productive soil if food waste was incorporated into it.
After leaving Carson City, we traveled to Fallon, NV. I drove ahead and parked the van in the town and then biked back outside so I could arrive with Dave and Austin. When we got to the middle of the town, we were greeted by the newspaper photographer, Kim Lamb, and also the former rotary president, Sue, who arranged everything for us. She’s awesome. We’re staying at the Wolf Center, which is a community center attached to the Epworth United Methodist Church.
For dinner, we ate at Daily Bread, which is a program that’s run through the Wolf Center. Twice a week, members of different churches and the rotary chapter take turns cooking for the community, for people who can’t afford hot meals. Daily Bread was started at the Epworth United Methodist Church by three ladies who recognized a need in the community. Initially, they were serving 35-40 people and cooking in the tiny church kitchen. Gradually, however, the program grew, and the tiny church could no longer accommodate the 60+ people who were coming to each meal. The churches realized they had to expand, and so began planning for the Wolf Center. Ron Evans, the church trustee, was instrumental in the planning and implementation of the building, and he also played a huge role in designing the facility. The Fallon rotary club donated $10,000, and that, combined with other donations, enabled the town to build the center.
The building is brand new, having opened in January. It can accommodate over 100 people for dinner, and also serves as Fallon’s emergency center. The building has hot showers, an industrial kitchen, and a great floor for sleeping—at least when air mattresses are laid down.
About 10 women cooked dinner tonight. The meal included tamale pie (ground beef, olives, onions, with a delicious layer of corn bread on top), rolls, salad, and peaches. Community leaders purchase most of the food through donated money, but a local casino provides all of the milk for the center. Since the food is of such high value to the center, I was interested in learning more about the leftovers, and what happens to the food scraps.
While drying dishes (Dave and Austin were washing, I was drying), Ron told me a little bit about the leftover food. They freeze everything they can to reuse in other dishes. However, things like tamale pie can’t be frozen and made into something else, so the center gives away what it can. The rest of the pie and food scraps are thrown away—Fallon doesn’t have a compost program. One woman who was on dish-drying duty with me also added that she hates to see food go to waste, so she tries as hard as she can to give away the leftover food to people who can use it. I noticed that most people cleaned their plates, so the food waste levels were quite low. It was great to see a place where food so highly valued. If only they had a compost pile out back...
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