By Heidi Nawrocki

 

Can you believe it is June already? We are entering our third week of the outdoor season and The Masons will be under the music tent this week. Next week will be our first recipe of the season from The Frugal Foodie Mama. She showed us some glimpses of what she got to work with and mentioned something about a sweet recipe. My mouth is watering!

 

We have a guest post for the blog this week. Nate Madden from the Bridgeport High School Key Club is an active participant each week at the market helping out at the Key Club recycling tent. Read on to find out some new and exciting news he has to share!

 

Three years ago, while I was still new to Key Club and the issues surrounding extreme use of natural resources, my friend Doug Soule approached me about starting a recycling stand at the Market. He was able to get us set up for the summer of my freshman year. Since then, I have spent nearly every Sunday at the Bridgeport Farmers Market collecting recyclables from its patrons. If you've ever wandered through the Farmers Market and seen one teenager doing chemistry homework or picking through trash for 3 plastic cups, that was me.

 

The reason you'll see me out there picking through the trash every Sunday is very simple: I care about the environment and I want to do all that I can to help keep it clean. My love for nature and its inherent beauty has grown since then, and with it my desire to help keep it clean. So, with the help of Kent Spellman (BFM Board President), Gabriel Johnson (Junior at Notre Dame High School), and Doug Soule (Freshman at WVU), I got the Think Green grant offered by Waste Management. We used that money to build a compost station. We will begin composting this summer and hope to be selling it during next year's market season.

 

 Ready for those vegetable scraps!

 

There is still a lot of work to do. Luckily, we have two Key Clubs working on this- Bridgeport High School and Notre Dame High School. This summer will hold a lot of early mornings and long afternoons spent out at the compost station, but we are happy to do it. We are dedicated to service, and we are dedicated to our environment.

 

Earth is a living, breathing planet and, until Elon Musk reaches Mars, our only home. We have cut through Her, reaching deep inside to grab all the natural resources we can get our greedy hands on, all in the name of building a better world. Unfortunately, this has come with a price. Increasing global temperatures, erratic weather patterns, and rising sea waters, to name a few. Luckily, these issues are not irreparable. They can be fixed if we come together in defense of our world. Every one of use is able to help.

 

If you would like to help us in our effort to save the environment, you could bring yard clippings and fruit/vegetable scraps to our stand at the Market.