Eight weeks into this year's Backyard Compost Challenge, many of our participating households are gaining confidence with the composting process. How do we know? They've already diverted almost 3,000 pounds of food waste from our landfill. This made us curious about an upstream question: What can we do to prevent food waste to begin with? This past week, we asked the 2026 Slop Superstars for their advice, and they delivered: Laudable Leftovers Many participants noted that wh

There’s a reason they call compost “black gold” — and for the 6th straight year of our Backyard Compost Challenge, the gold rush is on. This year, more than 150 non-composting households vied for one of 80 slots in our annual Backyard Compost Challenge. “We were amazed that there’s still so much demand,” said Boxerwood educator and Compost Challenge facilitator Catherine Epstein, who noted Boxerwood had to select households by lottery after giving priority to those with child

Registration is now open for Boxerwood’s annual Backyard Compost Challenge, a 10-week program in which participants receive free large-volume composters in exchange for adopting new stewardship habits. This citizen-science project poses the question: “How many pounds of food waste could Rockbridge County households keep out of the landfill if given the chance?” Last year, the 100 participating households diverted 4,179 pounds of food waste in just ten weeks. “That’s ultimate