A Quantitative Summery

Summery=summer+summary. Ha.

Now that I’m home, I deemed it necessary to do a bit of a wrap-up entry to add some numbers to all of the writing (my blog is 67 pages in a word document. yikes.).  So, here we go:

Days on the road: 62

Nights we camped: 17

Nights we couch surfed: 7

Nights we spent with friends or friends of friends (or friends of friends of friends): 19

Nights in hotels: 15

Nights in churches or community centers or hostels: 4

Number of states: 16 (17 if you count DC)

Number of methods people deal with food waste: 6

Number of animal species benefitting from food waste: 3

Number of people who compost: more than I had anticipated

Number of amazing people we met: too many to count

Number of cornfields: waaaay too many to count

How I feel about the trip in general:

really, really good.

The City of Paul Revere and Baked Beans

aka Boston, the FINAL DESTINATION!

Worcester to Boston. BOSTON. BOSTON!

Dave and Austin presenting at Austin's high school in Shrewsbury. 

...for quite a large crowd!

I am SO HAPPY TO BE IN BOSTON!  There were several times when it felt like we would never get here, but around 4 PM yesterday, I drove in on I-90!  Okay, well my arrival was a little anticlimactic, but once I checked into the hotel that Dave’s parents generously reserved for us, I took off on my bike to go get pictures of Dave and Austin biking into Boston.  Their arrival was quite a bit more climactic.

A rainbow greeted us!

When I got back to the Westin on the Waterfront, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the hotel had upgraded our room to a two room suite with an incredible view of the skyline.  Apparently when Dave and Austin biked up to the hotel (I was at a bike shop getting my bike shipped back to California), Dave’s parents were there with champagne and made them ride around the hotel with glasses of champagne like they do through the streets of Paris in the Tour de France.  I wish I had been there to witness the moment.  The hotel employees that did witness it, however, decided that Dave and Austin are huge deals and deserve a two room suite.  I feel good about that decision.

JUST like that.

The view from our suite.

After I got back to the hotel, Dave and his parents, Austin and his family, and I met for dinner in the North End.  It was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of a 61-day journey.  

Today we went to Partners in Health, the organization that FACE AIDS works with, and talked to them about FACE AIDS, and about the ride.  It was so symbolic to begin from the FACE AIDS headquarters in Palo Alto and end at the Partners in Health Headquarters in Boston.  They both do such incredible work.

Austin, PIH correspondent, Julie (FACE AIDS executive director), and Dave.

I'm going home tomorrow, and couldn't be more excited.  This trip has been incredible, but California beckons.  When summoned by best state in the country, you have no choice but to answer.  

A Corner Copia

On the way to Worcester, Massachusetts, I stopped in New Haven to visit a vegetarian, organic cafe called Claire’s Corner Copia.  My dad and I ate there when we were in the area five years ago, and I remember it being quite delicious.  And I wanted to get their opinion on compost.

I spoke with none other than Claire herself, who told me about the history of compost at her corner copia.  In fall 2008, a university-funded group of Yale students, began collecting compost from the restaurant and transporting it to a larger scale compost facility.  However, when the group lost their funding, Claire lost an efficient way to compost.  Her only other option was a man who offered to pick up her compost once a week, which, in a restaurant, wasn’t viable because of the odor that decaying food tends to emit.  So now, Claire’s Corner Copia throws away their waste.  “It’s really too bad,” says Claire, “because our food is organic and would make really great compost.”

They do, however, encourage customers to compost, and continue to offer compostable cups and cutlery.  And really good blueberry muffins.

Saucy

We spent the past two nights in Fairfield, CT.  Last night, we went to famous (among Connecticut residents) wing restaurant Archie Moore’s.  They had quite the food waste problem in January, when a 200 gallon barrel of buffalo wing sauce spilled in front of the restaurant.  The sauce flowed down the street, making it impassible to pedestrians and motorists.  The hazmat team even had to come to clean up the mess.  I had not heard of the catastrophe until now, but it made national news when Stephen Colbert discussed it on the Colbert Report.

What a mess.  I'm guessing the hazard team didn't compost that.

I ♥ NY

Two new states!  Although saying that isn't quite as exciting as it was when the states were 400 miles wide...

There wasn't a "Welcome to New York" sign in the middle of the Holland Tunnel...

Well New York was wonderful.  Great food, great friends, great times.  And, great sources.

My professor, Tom Hayden, put me in touch with a master composter in the city.  While I was unable to meet up with her while I was in town, we were able to talk over email a bit, and she sent me a lot of great information.  New York City is home to the NYC Compost Project, an outreach and education program founded in 1993 by the Department of Sanitation.  The project encourages city residents to compost through workshops, demonstrations, an information hotline, and discounted compost bins.  You can read more about this wonderful program here.

Phil. a. delph. i. a!

Two new states!

Maryland...

And Pennsylvania!

In Philadelphia, we got TWO rest days because Dave and Austin decided to ride the 180 miles from DC to here in one day.  No big deal.

So we went to see the Liberty Bell,

went on a nice walk past this parking lot (look at the bottom sign closely),

and got (real, with cheez whiz cheese) Philly cheesesteaks at Jim's, a restaurant visited by Billy Joel and James Taylor.

Philadelphia also has a well-established education-based compost program.  I almost feel like I'm back in the Bay Area with the prevalence of composters in this part of the country!

The House Composts

Washington, DC to Philadelphia

It’s true, the House of Representatives instituted a compost program in their cafeteria in the fall of 2007.  After the representatives dispose of their food waste—and compostable cutlery—in compost bins, a food service worker shreds it in a large pulper.  The pulped waste weighs less, making the 25 mile trek to Chesterfield Farms much easier.  And, according to this article, composting waste is cheaper than hauling it to the landfill!  Yet another reason to compost.  Chesterfield Farms also collects yard waste from curbside pickup programs, in addition to compostables from a variety of businesses, including Whole Foods.  Lots of information here, if you’d like to learn more about them.

Washington, DC, was rich in food waste avoidance resources.  One nonprofit, Bread for the City, helps feed DC’s low income residents.  One of the ways it accomplishes its goal is through the utilization of excess produce on regional farms, food that would otherwise go to waste.

I noticed other signs of food waste prevention and compost in DC, including in my frozen yogurt, which I ate with a compostable spoon (and my friend Jackie, who’s in DC for the summer!).

Jackie and I in front of the White House—on what happened to be Obama's birthday!

Katie and Jackie in front of Old Ebbitt Grill, the "oldest dining saloon in Washington, DC."

New District!

...since Washington, DC isn't a state.

Fredericksburg to Washington, DC

This morning I stopped at Fredericksburg’s city hall for a nice little chat with Nancy, a receptionist in the department of public works.  Fredericksburg has a single stream recycling pickup, as do most of the towns we’ve passed through now that we’re on the east coast.  They also have a leaf program in the winter, in which they vacuum the leaves off of the streets.  They’ve just begun composting the leaves and other brush at the Stafford County landfill, and the finished product goes back to city projects.  They plan to sell it in the future, to pay for landfill operations costs.  

Additionally, Stafford County has recently begun offering free composting classes to the county residents.  Once the people have learned how to turn food waste into fertilizer, they can purchase a compost bin for $20!

Stafford County Landfill.  Yardwaste being recycled into mulch.

After leaving Fredericksburg, I headed to Washington, DC.  We got to our nation’s capital in time to shower and get ready for our FACE AIDS presentation at the Stanford in Washington house.  We had dinner at the house with some Stanford students who are in Washington for the summer.  It was so wonderful to see friends and people from school; I had almost forgotten how much I miss being around people my age!  Not that Dave and Austin aren’t great.  I just miss my girl friends and shopping and gossiping and pink and frozen yogurt and sushi and...

Anyway, the presentation went well!  

Commonwealth Capital

Richmond to Fredericksburg

We took a rest day yesterday and spent the last two nights with the Ashes, a family Austin knows from Worcester, Massachusetts, his hometown, who had moved to the Richmond area (Chesterfield, to be precise), several years ago.

They were wonderful, as our hosts typically are, and cooked us real southern food!  I tried (non-instant) grits for the first time, and was surprised by how much I liked them.

With the Ashe family.

We spent our off day wandering the streets of Richmond, a real city (so much authenticity in this post)!  I stopped in a grocery store, Ukrop’s, for a peach, and got so much more, including information about their lovely compost program.  They began collecting their organic waste in 2002, when they formed a partnership with Watkins Nursery, located in a Richmond suburb called Midlothian.  The actual composting process occurs at the nursery, and then Ukrop’s and Watkins both sell the finished compost product back to the community.

There was also a salvage grocery store, called Fresh to Frozen Grocery Salvage, located a few miles from the Ashes’ home.  It was quite similar to the one in Sonora, Kentucky, and sold similar products: dented canned goods, bent cereal boxes, overstock, and other foods that had recently passed their expiration dates.  They also sell a selection of non-salvage foods, such as milk, produce, and bread.  They’ve been open since 2005 and, according to their slogan, are a “Solution to Saving.”  I think they meant saving money, but saving food is quite important as well.  Check plus, Richmond.