Charlottesville to Richmond
People in Charlottesville are SO NICE! And so helpful, too! Here are five examples of the people I met while in town:
Last night we stayed with one Austin’s high school friends’ roommates. Friends of the friend of a friend again, I like those. They go to UVA and have a nice porch swing, which we sat on in the evening. Today, keeping with the history theme, visited Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson.
Monticello
After our tour, Dave and Austin took off for Richmond, and I headed to Barnes & Noble to get a new book. I ended up with three. At the checkout counter, I asked if the store had a student discount. The woman at the register told me no, but that they had an educator discount. I told her I would be teaching science to elementary school kids as part of an after school program in the fall, and she gave me 20% off.
Then, I went to Lindt to get a bar of chocolate and chatted with the cash register attendant there for 20 minutes about college, Japan, and the Alps. He gave me lots of samples and was wonderful to talk to.
After that, I went to Walgreens for contact solution. I needed to use the restroom, so I asked an employee at the pharmacy where it was. She left the pharmacy, walked across the entire store, and unlocked the door to the employee lounge for me.
After that, I went to Whole Foods. I asked the employee sweeping the sidewalk in front of the store what they did with their compost. When I told her, named Dawn, about my project, she practically dropped her broom and dragged me to the break room. There, we, and several other employees, talked about the company that picks up the compost, Timber Creek Organics, for quite awhile. Timbercreek farm began growing organic foods relatively recently, and was inspired to do so by none other than Joel Salatin and Polyface Farms! Quelle coincidence!
Timbercreek began composting a few years ago so they could produce healthier grasses for their herbivorous animals. They contacted local businesses and asked them to collect their compostable waste, which Timbercreek picks up several times a week. Currently, they collect almost 5 tons of compostable material a week. That’s insane! What a successful program! Timbercreek sells the excess compost product back to community residents. One of the Whole Foods employees, Melissa, had purchased some of their compost for her garden and said it was incredible and she had never grown such healthy produce. Timbercreek, continue spreading the gospel of compost.
People of Charlottesville, continue spreading the gospel of kindness.
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