Highfields Center For Composting Logo
Cultivating Sustainable Systems

At Highfields we work to close the loop on community-based, sustainable food and agricultural systems, thus addressing soil health, water quality, solid waste, farm viability, and climate change.

We provide technical services for on-farm composting and comprehensive food waste recycling programs, which include action-based environmental education.


Please use the menu at the top of the page to tour our website, learn about our programs and technical services, workshops, and upcoming events.

Our Mission Statement


Highfields New Compost Research and Education Site
Presenting - the NEW
Highfields New Compost Research
and Education Facility


Read More >>>


RootSkills
2012 NEGEF RootSkills Conference

Can you make it?
Help us with planning and save your spot today!

RootSkills is:
A one-day gathering & training for grassroots groups like yours!
An opportunity to build community, group & leadership skills!
Time to hang out with other community activists!
Lead by Effective and Fun Trainers!
Affordable!

 Freedom NH on Saturday, May 19th.
1 ¼ hours from Portland, ME
1 ½ hours from Concord or Portsmouth, NH
2 hours from Augusta, ME
2 ¼ hours from Boston, M
A
 
$25 registration includes:
Saturday breakfast, lunch and a full day workshop
+ $15 for Friday night dinner & reception
+ $25 to reserve a Friday night bunk on-site Composting has an immediate opening for a part-time Full Charge Bookkeeper experienced in using Quickbooks.



CTL Close the Loop St. Albans! is a community effort to recycle our food waste through composting, diverting food waste from the landfill and keeping it as a local resource.
Find out more >>

Food Scrap Collection Proposals

Highfields Center for Composting is requesting proposals for clean food scrap collection and delivery in the Lamoille (Morrisville/Johnson) and NEK (St. Johnsbury and Lyndonville) regions. Interested haulers should review and complete a Proposal Sheet.

Submissions are encouraged by February 29th, 2012.


2011 workshops
Highfields' 2011 Fall Workshops a Rotten Success!

Read More...


Highfields Awarded $12,500 Farm to Plate Initiative Grant

Highfields Center for Composting will purchase a Mobile Compost Screener which will be made available to composters around the state at a reasonable price. Screeners remove clumps, bones, rocks and any undesirable materials that may have entered the material, making it a more desirable product for farmers, gardeners and landscapers and thus commanding a higher price in the market.


More on the Farm to Plate initiative






Highfields Delighted to Host Serbian Delegation

Highfields recently hosted a delegation of 19 people from non-profits and municipals governments in Serbia. The delegates, tasked with working on solid waste issues in their home country, traveled to VT and Wash DC while in the U.S. and made a stop in Hardwick to visit with Highfields and learn about community composting infrastructure.

The Smell Test The Smell Test The Smell Test

(click to enlarge)


CAE Tours 2011

Rising Stars
Vermont Business Magazine
recognizes Highfields' Tom Gilbert as one of its Rising Stars: Vermont's Outstanding Young Leaders

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Hardwick and the New Frontier of Food
The Town Food Saved

Yankee magazine takes a close look at Hardwick's New Frontier of Food.

"The most interesting agriculture experiment in the country"
- Bill McKibben

Read the story >>>
( go to page 82-83)


Mad River Valley businesses join Highfields' Close the Loop program

Read the story >>>
"The fact that Mehuron's has joined with Highfields Center for Composting may not seem like it's is such big news - but it is.

Mehuron's and the 1824 House Barn Door Restaurant are working with Highfields Center for Composting and the Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District to collect food waste and scraps for compost."


From WBUR Boston :
'The Town That Food Saved'
Listen to the story
at NPR's daily news
e-magazine
"Here and Now"


(Click on the "Listen to The Story" button at the site)

Slideshow
The Town Food Saved
Watch it Now


eaarth

Twenty years ago, with The End of Nature, Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming.

.....Our old familiar globe is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding, and burning in ways that no human has ever seen. We've created, in very short order, a new planet, still recognizable but fundamentally different. We may as well call it Eaarth.

Eaarth



How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food
Local author, Ben Hewitt, explores the Hardwick food system with depth and honesty.

The work of Tom Gilbert, Executive Director of the Highfields Center for Composting, is featured in the book.

Copies can be purchased from the Galaxy Bookshop (just below Highfield's office).


Read a story about Ben's new book at the Vermont Times Argus >>

NEW - Seven Days Magazine reviews Bens Book - "Harder Look at Hardwick">

The Town Food Saved






 


Dan Rather Reports
"Dan Rather Reports"
A segment featuring Hardwick's local food systems.
Part 1 | Part II


 


More composting-related articles on our Media Page >>>
 
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Donate Now
Support Healthy Food Systems -- Donate to Highfields


The Highfields
Community Supported Compost Program

More Info >>>


Looking for a date?
See what's going on in the world of composting:


Highfields Composting Calendar

Hardwick Community Calendar

Mailing List
Mailing List

Join to get the latest
news and updates.

Compost Only - On YouTube
"Compost Only"
is our hipster video
on gettin' down
with the rot thing.

Check it Out>>>



Do The Rot Thing
"Do The Rot Thing"
is a composting guide for teachers designed to introduce composting concepts and methods to students of all ages.

(Document provided by Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District)



Compost Only - On YouTube
A four part video series covering all aspects of
Livestock Mortality Composting, including technical information
and a step-by-step demonstration of the process.

Watch it Now >>>


Compost Sales
Now taking orders
for Spring


The White Water Gallery

White Water Gallery
Supports Highfields


ww
Waste Wise
 
Highfields Composting Go To Home Page