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2023-05-01 FLA - MDPLS Partnerships Composting at Home 101.pptx
- 1. LIBRARIES AS COMMUNITY CONNECTORS 2023 FLORIDA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE Ellen Book, MDPLS Branch Manager Pinecrest Branch Library & UF/IFAS Master Gardener booke@mdpls.org / 305-668-4571
- 2. Ellen Book, Branch Manager Pinecrest Branch Library booke@mdpls.org www.mdpls.org
- 5. Was NOT me
- 19. The Pinecrest Branch Library Staff is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Online Event - Composting at Home 101 Time: Saturday, March 25, 2023 @ 2PM* *Registered attendees will not be admitted to the lecture on Zoom after 2:15pm. The lecture is not being recorded. If you are unable to attend, please register for any of these repeated sessions. May 27 https://www.mdpls.org/event/7359369 July 29 https://www.mdpls.org/event/7359370 Sept 30 https://www.mdpls.org/event/7359371 Nov 18 https://www.mdpls.org/event/7359372 Here’s the presentation with links to library resources & gardening websites: https://TINYURL.com/IFAScomposts ONLINE EVENT Zoom invitation : Composting at Home 101 Saturday, May 27, 2023 @ 2pm (please read ALL of the information in this email)
- 22. Evaluation & Voucher Link to slide presentation: https://TINYURL.com/IFAScomposts The Miami-Dade voucher will be accepted for six months The link to the evaluation / voucher will be up until Monday at 8:00am. Vasquez,Laura A lavasquez@ufl.edu Urban Horticulture Agent and Master Gardener Coordinator
- 25. LIBRARIES AS COMMUNITY CONNECTORS 2023 FLORIDA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE Ellen Book, MDPLS Branch Manager Pinecrest Branch Library & UF/IFAS Master Gardener booke@mdpls.org / 305-668-4571
Editor's Notes
- I’m Ellen Book, a MDPLS Librarian for 35 years and a UF/IFAS Extension Master Gardener for 11 years. Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences - IFAS
- For each and every one of my Composting programs, the first 50 or so slides are about library resources. This gives a great commercial for the downloadables and upcoming programs while starting the main presentation a little later for late comers.
- Food waste was one reason for my interest in composting.
- Secondly, I’ve lived in FL for five decades and seen Florida’s growth of landfills. Up to 40% of organic waste could be recycled at home turning it into a vital soil amendment. Drive up the turnpike and Mt. Trashmores are THROUGHOUT FL and they’re only GETTING BIGGER AND HIGHER .
- When I started composting, I made a serious mess of it. I tell my audience this because composting is a recipe and a balance. Get your proportions right and the outcome seems like magic.
- Because I was so unsuccessful with composting, I signed up for the MG Volunteer program. Master Gardener is a title granted by UF/IFAS to individuals who undertake 80 hours of classroom and field training and then complete 75 volunteer hours to graduate followed by 35 hours per year every year. The requirements parallel library reference services but with questions focused on the environment and horticulture. IFAS allows you to either connect with existing projects or devise your own. Projects include school gardens, plant clinics, tree giveaways public garden docents. It’s fantastic for librarians who want access to their local schools because the schools ask IFAS to send Master Gardeners for consultations. I was introduced to a network of scientists, environmentalists, horticulturalists. There are even conferences, workshops, webinars. MGs record our continuing education trainings along with tracking all of our volunteer hours. WHAT A MASTER GARDENER LEARNS ABOUT Flower & Vegetable Gardening Ornamental Trees, Palms, & Shrubs Insect, Disease, & Weed Identification Soils, Composting, & Mulching Fruit Trees Lawns Proper Pesticide & Fertilizer Use Basic Botany
- IFAS offers interesting programs all over the county and it’s a good fit for libraries to host them. There are so many library and IFAS programs that when I email the Zoom invitation for the composting program, it has 50 or more web addresses coordinated with the slides that I show. My Zoom library assistant also adds these links to the chat during the program.
- https://tinyurl.com/MonthlyPlanting Composting is very intentional. And reasons to compost stem from growing more nutritional edibles, reducing the plants need for chemical fertilizers, reducing water pollution from fertilizer runoff, reducing methane from rotting organics in landfills. I connect those important reasons to our unique growing seasons of hot and wet summers, dry and cool winters.
- After years of helping with local public gardens, volunteering at the Youth Fair, and Ag Shows. I decided I wanted to focus on composting starting in 2017. What I found was that In 2018 – Director of Solid Waste Management and the Director of Parks created a five-year memorandum of understanding to purchase up to 240 compost bins per year for county resident who completed training in proper composting techniques.
- This is the composter with a volume capacity of 80 gallons. In the first five years, 2018-2022 MDCDSWM has spent: $27,275.20 purchasing these dome composters for distribution.
- My next slides show the synergy of cross promoting this program between the three county depts. QR codes lead you to the Library’s registration page.
- IFAS’ created their own version of a programming poster
- IFAS created this poster for a library outreach.
- And then this advertised the program from the IFAS website calendar
- Here’s the Solid Waste Management’s promotion page
- And from Solid Waste Dept’s website they linked back to Pinecrest Branch’s Composting at Home registration page.
- The registration page from the library looks like this. I post multiple programs at a time so a patron can check boxes to Sign up for the Zoom repeats that are held throughout the year if they need a refresher.
- Up to 300 can sign up based max number allowed on the branch’s Zoom account. The highest number to sign up so far has been 255 people with 139 actually showing up.
- This is the content of the email invitation that is sent out. I explain that in the presentation, there are many QR code links to upcoming events and to MDPLS & Cooperative Extension resources, but the presentation adds more content then what you see in the Powerpoint slides. By attending the presentation AND by filling out the evaluation, you will get access to a voucher for a free composter at the lecture’s completion. The voucher link will be active for two days. The printout or the photo of the voucher expires in six months. I post the entire presentation on Slideshare and give the URL. Previously, when the program was held In person, I would distribute piles of informative publications and the evaluation. That took hours of photocopying. Now, using Zoom, all the information is conveyed through web links.
- From Slideshare, I’m able to see how many times my presentations have been viewed.
- MDPLS collects the statistics and IFAS compiles the data.
- This is the presentations last slide: three important things on this slide: IFAS creates a Qualtrix evaluation of my program and a survey. They collect demographic data to be inclusive. The last page has this orange voucher with the address of the Dept of Solid Waste’s Home Chemical Center and their operating hours. Each presentation is stored on Slideshare and the web address is shortened with a tiny url.
- Miami-Dade Public Library System provides ways to inspire and connect all ages to community-based solutions. Library programs can create a spark that brings science to patrons to result in purposeful & impactful actions. To go BIG, partnerships are key. For this composting program, tethering the reach of three local government entities has trained hundreds and hundreds to regenerate household waste into organic compost. The library is the host, the Master Gardener Volunteer is the teacher. The Solid Waste Dept. pays for and distributes the prize of a free composter With the power of three, we amplify the program’s effectiveness to residents concerned about the environmental consequences of their family’s refuse.
- The National Association of Counties recognizes innovative county government programs and this program won a 2022 Achievement Award
- So, if you live in a home in Miami-Dade and want a composter, register for my class. For any other county, see if you can start up a composting program and contact your IFAS Extension service to see if you can replicate this program. Please contact me if you Have any questions.