Red Onions, Flour & Manure

10th year celebrating International Compost Awareness Week. So Fun.

VT Compost, Radicchio 2026 Photograph by Lyn Swett Miller

Happy International Compost Awareness Week!

This year’s theme: Feed the Soil that Feeds Us.

Brooklyn, #9 & Manhattan, #2 2017 Photographs by Lyn Swett Miller

For me, it started in 2017, in New York City…

…hands at work, tearing paper and carrying scraps.

Yellow Tulips & Orange Rinds, 2017 Photographs by Lyn Swett Miller

Hands, Columbia University 2017 Photograph by Lyn Swett Miller

This graphic from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance explains part of the why composting matters:

But for me, the biggest “why” is the sheer joy of the process.

Mussels & Mixed Carbon, 2019 Photographs by Lyn Swett Miller

Dried leaves and shredded paper (carbon materials) layered on top of mussels, fruit and vegetable scraps…After some aeration and rest, these ingredients mix and mingle, ultimately returning to enhance the creation of an entirely new garden.¹

My kind of bliss.

Black Compost in Bin (2019); Compost in Action (2021) Photographs by Lyn Swett Miller

Since moving to our condo, though, I’ve missed this intoxicatingly beautiful experience. My weekly buckets are cool, but don’t satisfy on a somatic level.

Compost May 2, 2026 Photograph by Lyn Swett Miller

So on Tuesday I visited the Vermont Compost Company and hung out with the all of it.²

Leaping Leeks, Vermont 2026 Photograph by Lyn Swett Miller

Ut Oh - - leeks on the loose!³

Radicchio & Red Onion, 2026 Photographs by Lyn Swett Miller

And the bliss of purple vegetables and floating flour.

Floating Flour, Vermont 2026 Photograph by Lyn Swett Miller

And there’s nothing better than mixing ingredients…to bake bread…

Bread & Brown Stuff, 2026 Photographs by Lyn Swett Miller

…or to create soil…that feeds our bodies and souls.

Compost Layers, Vermont 2026 Photograph by Lyn Swett Miller

Happy Composting, my friends!

Compost May 2, 2026 Photograph by Lyn Swett Miller

With gratitude for you being you,

Lyn

Yellow Pepper and Pineapple, Vermont 2026 Photograph by Lyn Swett Miller

Lilly, Resting Photograph by Lyn Swett Miller

Lilly was a little bored with all my talk about compost this week, but she enjoyed a few moments resting in the sun.

Compost, May 7, 2022 Photograph by Lyn Swett Miller

Question:

I’ve been thinking. What if I truly lived more like compost…a few days of glitz and colorful glam, and then lots of time to ruminate with the mess, rest, and recover? And what if compost became our collective guide for finding balance and peace?

What do you think?

Lilly Resting Some More Photograph by Lyn Swett Miller

Finally, some blooms, hidden behind the holiday cactus.

1. This photograph is misleading. It’s really important to kill the grass upon which you want to create a garden. I should have put cardboard down first, then put the compost on top of it. I have no idea why I didn’t in this case, but whatever layers I ended up creating must have worked, because this section of the lawn transformed into a lush garden in the next few years. I hope the people now living in our house are enjoying it!

2. Thank you to Sid Hammer and his team for letting me wander around their site for a few hours. He and I had a great conversation about cameras, photography and ways to represent the beauty of decay. People who work in the compost biz are cool.

3. Here’s the deal. Those leeks should not be in this compost - - they should have been part of a delicious soup or some other culinary creation. While I am a huge proponent of composting, I also understand that reducing waste in the landfill begins by using the food we grow. Only actual scraps should end up in the compost.

That said, these compost buckets come from local restaurants in Montpelier, Vermont. Given my experience collecting ten tons of biodegradable waste from Umpleby’s Cafe, I know that even the most diligent chefs end up composting good food.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if there was an easy system for capturing all of these resources and sharing them with others? The bottom line - - Our food system is radically inefficient.

In a few weeks I’ll be in Charlotte, NC attending The ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit, where I hope to learn more about how my photographs can be part of a larger local and national conversation about food waste in all its forms.