Highfields Composting Home Page

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

Thanks to everyone who attended our
July 22nd On Farm Composting workshop!

To be announced :
Mortality Composting Workshop
More Info >>>

Hardwick Area Farm and Agri-Business Tours Coordinated by the Center for an Agricultural Economy

A caravan style guided tour of the area's farms and
agri-businesses, held once every month.

More Info >>>

Funding Opportunity for On-farm Energy Audits

EQIP offers financial and technical help to assist eligible participants install or implement structural and management practices on eligible agricultural land.

Deadline June 18th

Natural Resources Conservation Service
More Info >>>

Hardwick and the New Frontier of Food

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

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.

The Town That Food Saved:

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">

Fox Business Interviews Ben Hewitt

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

AudioCast with Carl Etnier on Equal Time :
Compost It: Economic Development That Feeds The Soil

Feed the soil, keep down landfill costs, extend the life of landfills, create jobs, reduce greenhouse gases: These are all reasons to compost food waste instead of throwing it into the trash.
Listen Now

Food Scraps Revisited
Highfields' June Van Houten explains the benefits of the "Close the Loop" food scrap composting program.

Read at the Times Argus >>>

BFA Scraps Become Compost
Sparked by a students composting club, Bellows Free Academy enlists Highfields Composting to assist in the conversion to composting.

Read the Story >>>

More composting-related articles on our Media Page >>>

The Vermont Art Council Presents:
The Art of Action

View Vermont Photographer John Miller's panels commissioned for this project
at the Art of Action Gallery ( scroll to the last images in the series)

™Close the Loop
A Community Based Composting Program

Please help support
Highfields Composting

NEW!

The Highfields
Community Supported Compost Program

More Info>>>

"Compost Only"
is our hipster video
on gettin' down
with the rot thing.
Check it Out>>>

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

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 >>>

Mailing List
Join to get the latest
news and updates.

Compost Sales
Now taking orders
for Spring

Build your Own Compost Turner
Windrow Turner


	Stay tuned for our upcoming Mortality Composting Workshops Dates to be announced. More Info >>>