ITEM FILE PHOTO
David Gass, director of the Highland Coalition, plays violin at the Ford School garden.
BY MATT DEMIRS
LYNN — The Department of Public Works will be hosting a composting training at Cook Street Park today.
The training, scheduled for 11 a.m., will provide residents instructions to use the “Earth Machine,” a home composter available for purchase from the DPW for $25, thanks to funding from Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Representative Julia Greene will lead by showing how to use your food scraps, leaves, grass clippings, and more to make compost, or “black gold,” as some would call it.
Composting can cut down on your trash by up to 30 percent. It also improves garden soil and lowers your carbon footprint, according to the DPW.
At 12 p.m., there will be a potluck, sponsored by the Cook Street Park Community Garden and the Highlands Coalition, with some of the food actually coming from the garden.
Representative David Gass from the Highlands Coalition talked about the overarching goal for the community gathering, as well as the garden.
The garden has people from 10 countries growing food, he said. In some cases, the plants are untraditional, like amaranth, sweet and bitter leaves, callalou, okra, and navo.
It’s a true grassroots program hoping to untangle current problems in the area.
“We are taking back Cook Street Playground from the gangs and fighting,” Gass said. “The garden and new equipment from the city are replacing bad behavior with children, food, and families.”
Their plan is to do the same at High Rock Park.
Matt Demirs can be reached at [email protected].
