Category: Blog

The Ground Beneath Our Feet: Wrapping Up Another Successful Year of Soil Contamination Research

October 31, 2025

By Martyna Tomczynski, Healing City Soils Program Manager

This year marked another successful chapter in the Healing City Soils: The Ground Beneath Our Feet student-led soil contamination research project. With the support of the PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱  Foundation, Dr. Matt Dodd at Royal Roads University (RRU) and environmental toxicologist Dr. Danielle Stevenson, the Compost Education Centre has been working with BSc in Environmental Science students at RRU over the last four years to better understand the legacy of heavy metal contamination from the industrial history at SṈIDȻEȽ (Tod Inlet, Gowlland Tod Park).

SṈIDȻEȽ (meaning “Place of the Blue Grouse” in SENĆOŦEN) was the first village site of the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples (Elliott, 1990; Gray, 2020). The land and waters that supported a diverse ecosystem of cultural resources was eventually impacted by the effects of European settlement and colonization that altered the soil, sediment, and water health thereafter. The Douglas treaties enabled the acquisition and sale of the land to the Butchart family in 1903, who established the Vancouver Portland Cement Company that quarried limestone for cement production at SṈIDȻEȽ until 1921 (Gray, 2020). The full scope of environmental effects from the historical cement works is still unknown, though various organizations have been leading initiatives to restore the health of the land and waters. At present, the site is enjoyed by the public as a provincial park for hiking, boating, and other recreation, and continues to be a significant area for cultural harvesting and spiritual purposes for the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.

Over the past eight months, our team of four undergraduate students have been investigating the soil health at SṈIDȻEȽ. They conducted two days of soil sampling, collecting 140 samples for analysis using X-Ray Fluorescence to determine the spatial variability of heavy metal contamination. The GPS coordinates of each sampling location were used to create a map as a visual aid for contamination patterns. The outcomes of this research project will help to support the PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ Foundation in their efforts to heal the land at SṈIDȻEȽ by identifying priority areas for targeted restoration activities.

Additionally, the student team analyzed heavy metals in Western Canada Goldenrod (Solidago lepida) plants that were grown and harvested from the site for a phytoremediation pilot experiment in 2024. This pilot research aims to understand the suitability of various plant species for soil remediation, and the beneficial effects of compost and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi as enhancements for improved metal uptake by plants.

As the year comes to a close, we’re excited to reflect on what the project team has accomplished and look ahead to the next steps. With each year, this project continues to grow—deepening our understanding of soil contamination and strengthening the connections between research, education, and community impact.

References

Elliott, D. (1990). Saltwater People. Edited by J. Poth. School District 62, Saanich, B.C. https://wsanec.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/saltwater-people-1983-delliot-sr-compressed.pdf

Gray, D.R. (2020). Deep and Sheltered Waters: The History of Tod Inlet. Royal BC Museum. Victoria, B.C.

Posted in Blog, Food Security, Healing City Soils, Partnerships, Programs

Composting Connections from Haida Gwaii

October 22, 2025

By Kayla

I recently had the valuable opportunity to see a medium scale community composting facility in operation in Old Masset on Haida Gwaii during a personal holiday. The community there has about 80 households filling 5-gallon buckets with food scraps from their kitchen, and then employees of the project pick up the bucket contents and bring them back to their EarthFlow composter – “an automated compost mixing and aeration system” inside a shipping container. Food waste is added to the shipping container, an auger breaks up and mixes the materials, automated irrigation can be toggled on and off depending on the moisture level of the feedstock, gases and emissions are captured in a biofilter before being released outside. While the community in Old Masset is still honing their process of storage, curing and use for the finished compost, they are excited that they are diverting a lot of waste from their landfill! Through this program they are building community, creating climate resilience as they process their own waste, creating a valuable soil amendment to nourish their sandy soils, and they are creating valuable employment opportunities for community members. I loved seeing this project in action and seeing Dave’s market garden where some of the finished compost is completing its curation phase.

Thank you so much to Calvin and Trudy and Filene from the Indigenous Zero Waste Technical Advisory Group for connecting me to Dave and for supporting such a great community scale composting operation in Old Masset. I’m very happy to hear that IZWTAG is also supporting many other composting systems of this scale across the province in different communities. Thank you to Dave for showing me around his market garden and garden scale composting operation and showing me the EarthFlow composter in action in Old Masset.

I feel so inspired to be connected to a wider community of people who care about stewarding the soil, reducing methane emissions from landfill, and building community resilience. Us compost keeners are everywhere 😉

Posted in Blog, Composting, Food Security, Reflections, Sustainability, Waste Diversion

Annual General Meeting

October 18, 2025

2025 Annual General Meeting

Thursday, November 20, 2025 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

At our Annual General Meeting (AGM), staff and board members of the CEC will review the important work that the organization accomplished in 2024. We will recap educational program achievements, new projects and programs.

CEC members in good standing will have the opportunity to vote on decisions that affect the future of the organization, including helping to elect new members to our Board of Directors.

Anyone can attend the CEC’s AGM. For members and non-members, attending our AGM is a great way to support the CEC and learn more about the work that we do here!

2024 Annual Report with Unaudited Financial Documents

Posted in Annual Report, Blog, Events, Uncategorized

Looking for Strategic Clarity

September 12, 2025

by Claire

When I first started at the Compost Ed Centre (about 2 ½ years ago!), I remember being awestruck – and frankly, a bit overwhelmed – by all the different things the organization was doing. I was a new Executive Director after several years of turnover in the position (although amazingly, very little turnover in other staff positions), and I felt like we were in transition as an organization. In the absence of stable and consistent strategic leadership, I saw what I called “mission spill,” (or what someone else generously and thematically referred to as “organic growth amidst resource scarcity”). We were doing a little bit of everything related to composting, gardening, and conservation; and while those three topics are interrelated, I was finding it difficult to express with confidence what it was we were trying to achieve and whether we were being effective.

We did an initial strategic planning session in the first year I was at the organization, and the process was positive. It consisted of a staff retreat, surveying our community and key stakeholders, a facilitated weekend discussion with staff and board, and follow-up staff discussions. We came to a shared understanding that we were doing great work that our community appreciated. And our community’s hopes for the future? That we keep doing what we do – and possibly expand!

However, due a lack of time and expertise, our initial strategic planning process created a sense of overwhelm because of how much time we collectively spent in a “generative” mode without creating much-needed strategic clarity tools like an impact statement, theory of change, or action plan. We started a lot of conversations without finishing them, produced a wish list of blue-sky ideas, and left feeling like we had added a lot to our plate without taking anything off it.

It felt very clear to me after a year in the Executive Director position that we didn’t have any strategic guardrails in place. We were doing a little bit of everything – and our community loved it – but we couldn’t assess how impactful we were being. At a more foundational level, we hadn’t articulated our hypotheses around our intended impact and theory of change – and that made it difficult to figure out our strategic priorities and action plan.

• Intended impact statement: A clear and rigorous statement of the impact that it will hold itself accountable for achieving
• Theory of change: A logical flow describing how their work leads to achieving that intended impact.
• Strategic priorities and action plan: an outline of the work required to implement the theory of change.

At this point in the process, I was beyond grateful to connect with Stephanie and Véro of Garrow & Evoy. With the support of MakeWay funding through Innoweave, a core group of staff and board members embarked on an almost 12-month process of developing our intended impact statement, theory of change, and action plan. We discussed, consulted with stakeholders, analyzed our programs, and discussed again. We were well-supported by our coaches Stephanie and Véro, and they led us – with insightful and challenging questions, endless examples from other organizations, and a lot of enthusiastic support – to our “final” products.

Check out our Theory of Change (beautifully assembled by Zoe-Blue) and let us know what you think.

Posted in Announcement, Blog, Reflections, Stategic Planning

Compost Education Centre Public Art Efforts – Community Feedback

September 11, 2025

The Compost Education Centre (CEC), with financial support from the City of Victoria’s My Great Neighbourhood Grant and a micro-grant from the Fernwood Neighbourhood House, has hired an artist (Taylor Pannell) to beautify the exterior fencing of the demonstration site at 1216 North Park Street, to paint a new picnic table for all to enjoy, and to paint a mural on the street surface near the entrance to the CEC demonstration site. We’re working to create a warm, welcoming, and approachable environment for all City residents to come and spend time relaxing in the gardens or learning about hands on regenerative soil practices.

There are three main elements to these efforts: 

1. Fence beautification: To beautify the chain link fence while also bringing together community, community members are welcome to paint metal or wooden Flora and Fauna representative of the work we do at the CEC to attach them to the fence. Timeline: October community event 

2. Picnic Table art: There is a need for additional seating within the demonstration & allotment gardens at the CEC. In partnership with ReWood we will build a new picnic table, to replace a near fallen apart picnic table to create seating area for people to dwell longer in the gardens The CEC has some milled Eucalyptus wood from a tree that was cut down because of a neighbouring development that will be used as the material. The Artist in Residence will paint a design on top of the table. Timeline: November painting.

 3. Street Mural on North Park Street: To create a colourful and welcoming approach for our new neighbours at the Caledonia development and to make the entrance of the CEC & Chambers Community Allotment Garden more noticeable, the Artist will paint a road top mural featuring elements of plants, healthy soil, community cohesion. Timeline: end of April/early May for street mural painting, with a community celebration and garden party to celebrate the mural in the following weeks. 

Sign up for our newsletter here to ensure you stay in the loop about the elements of this project or leave your email address in the form below to ensure you’re in the loop.

Posted in Blog, News

AI Usage at the Compost Education Centre

August 16, 2025

Every week, I receive surveys, webinar invites, and articles about nonprofit AI usage. I’m not an expert, but it’s not difficult to see how tools like ChatGPT are polluting both the internet and the environment. 

 With every iterative use of a large language model, we move farther away from authentic human creativity and writing. AI tools are fed with AI-generated content (and so on, to the nth degree) to generate new content. As we increase the quantity of AI-generated content, the amount of human-generated content fed into models will proportionately decrease. And without high-quality human inputs, large language models deteriorate, and the internet will (or arguably has already) become littered with a reduced quality and diversity of information. Yuck! And if you care about the environment, let’s try to remember the staggering amount of electricity demand and water consumption that’s wrapped up in AI usage. 

And the weirdest thing about it from a cultural perspective? Because everyone else is using AI to churn out reams of documents that take up the time and attention of our shared stakeholders, it can start to feel like you also must use AI to keep up. Carleton University’s “Charity Insights Canada Project” shares snapshots of how other nonprofits around the country are using AI. Most respondents are interested in exploring or expanding the use of AI tools in grant writing and reporting, marketing and communications, fundraising campaigns, etc. 

I can’t help but wonder, “Will a prospective funder recognize that I put in a lot of time, energy, and emotions to actively researching, writing, and proofreading this proposal? Will they be able to tell that it came from me instead of an AI tool? Will what I write somehow end up as an input into someone else’s AI-generated grant proposal?” 

We reflected upon the current state of AI usage at a recent staff meeting. People shared their experiences and whether they’ve ever used it at work. We shared a consensus that we have no interest in using AI. If we use AI, it is largely by accident, and we’re seeking out resources to help us discern what is AI-generated and what is not. Following our conversation, I drafted an AI Usage Policy to communicate recommendations, usage risks, and a framework to guide employee usage when/if it happens. 

In addition to the specific AI usage policy (see below) to guide employee behavior, we’ve also added a line to our template job application process discouraging the use of AI. We don’t want you using ChatGPT to write a cover letter! We want to hear from you as a creative human with unique experiences.  

Let us know if you have any thoughts! And feel free to use the AI Usage Policy below for your own workplace. 

AI Usage Policy 

There are specific risks associated with using large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and AI-generated content for the workplace, information quality, and internet quality. 

• Workplace risks include data governance (i.e. organizational data is transferred outside of organizational control as an input to an LLM, which can then be stored by the LLM for other uses) and data security (i.e. sensitive/private information could be entered as an input and then leaked). 

• Information quality risks include email phishing campaigns, influence campaigns (i.e. dissemination of misinformation/disinformation to influence beliefs and behaviors), and inability to identify LLM-generated content (i.e. there are no good tools to identify AI-generated content, which means that misinformation/disinformation can propagate). 

• Internet quality risks are related to how LLMs operate, which is that they inherit inaccuracies and biases present in the data. With ongoing and increased usage of LLMs, inaccuracies and biases will propagate and result in a lowered quality of information on the internet. 

In addition to the risks above, we feel strongly that human creativity and critical thinking can’t be replaced – only mimicked – by generative AI.  

Based on these risks and our values, use of LLMs and generative AI tools are discouraged at the Compost Education Centre. However, if deemed necessary, the following points guide employee usage: 

1. Employees may use Copilot (microsoft.com) to generate content. No other platform is approved for use. 

2. Employees will not rely on AI summaries (e.g. Google’s AI Overviews) to gather information from the internet, but they will instead click through to search results. 

3. Employees will not enter sensitive or confidential data into an AI tool. 

4. Employees must edit, proofread, and check AI-generated content for accuracy and biases before publication/dissemination. 

Posted in Anti-oppression, Blog

Is it too late?

August 14, 2025

Recently, the famous Canadian environmentalist, David Suzuki was interviewed by iPolitics and, contrary to his typically direct but hopeful rhetoric, he shared his current wisdom about climate change: “it’s too late.”

It was shocking to read even though I’ve acknowledged to myself and my community that I believe we are in a slow downward state of collapse of the environment, social systems, and the economy. While I am someone who has stayed hopeful but also abreast of the current science that projects us towards a deathly trajectory, it was still a depressing corroboration to hear that sentiment from a public figure.

Suzuki concluded his interview with a sliver of hope that I both share and practice. As a community, we can support one another through mutual aid. A real barefoot doctors’ approach to caring for community. We can practice decentralized support to survive pending climate chaos, socioeconomic destabilization, and more general discomfort. This kind of thought and action calms my nervous system: I support my neighbours, store extra liters of water in my garage for my friends, appreciate and share my skills in growing food, continue to nourish soil with compost, and teach others to do the same.

I listened to a follow up podcast interview with Suzuki, and I enjoyed hearing more from him about current politics and the state of science and fossil fuel extraction. His rants are compelling and true, and they fire me up. What Suzuki shared was the opposite of apathy. It instead was a call to END to fossil fuel extraction as well as an acknowledgment that our current economic system is not complementary to environmental protection and Indigenous justice. He shared that we don’t know what the heck will happen when we reach certain climate thresholds, but that we can support our friends, family, neighbours, and community to be prepared — physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually — for what might be yet to come.

The takeaway I want to share with you is that right now is the moment to do what you can to learn and practice resilience including nervous system regulation, food growing, composting, preserving foods, herbal medicine, and more. Do these things with your community and for your community, and you’ll be more well resourced in unstable times.

Posted in Blog, Reflections

Closing the Loop at Saanich Neighborhood Place

August 1, 2025

Compost Education Centre board member Tina wears a lot of different hats at Saanich Neighbourhood Place, a neighbourhood house that provides child care, family, seniors, and community programs. Like other neighbourhood houses in Victoria, SNP has taken on a lot of food security initiatives to respond to community need. SNP provides free food to the community through their Best Babies, Family Dinner, Community Kitchen, and Community Fridge programming. Tina is the Head of Food Security and a chef at SNP: she teaches workshops, makes delicious and healthy meals for the community, and she manages all of the organization’s food rescue.

About 70% of the food distributed through SNP programming is food that is “rescued” or donated. SNP purchases the remaining 30% of food required. Tina and other SNP staff have developed connections with local farmers like Gatton House Farm and Gorge Tillicum Urban Farmers that donate fresh produce. Neighbors and community members also donate any excess produce they might have, and SNP also receives rescued food from the Mustard Seed and Save On Foods.

The secret to making it all work? Volunteers, community connections, and Tina’s creativity. SNP relies on volunteers to pick up and transport food, and all the donations made by local growers are based on informal – and community-driven – relationships and community connections. And once Tina receives all the donated and rescued food, she crafts accessible menus and meals. She’s a wizard! She manages to figure out what to cook based on what’s available week-to-week.

You would think that Tina had enough on her plate (literally and figuratively!) without taking on more, but she has a vision for SNP and all community organizations in the region: composting and food-growing. Currently, SNP sends some of their organic waste to a local farm, some home with staff to compost at home, and the remainder into a green bin service that they pay for. SNP produces about one full green rollaway bin of organic waste a week, and they’d love to be composting that waste on-site instead to be able to support food growing.

Tina composts at home, and she notices a big difference in her garden. She has a simple composting system, and she notices a huge impact on her garden by amending her soil with the compost twice a year. She wants everyone to be composting more because of how it’s so much better for our environment. Instead of using fertilizers that run off into our waterways, we could instead be “closing the loop” and producing compost that supports our gardening initiatives. It just makes sense to keep all that valuable organic material on-site.

SNP has some underused green spaces that could accommodate a composting system and some growing gardens. Tina and her SNP colleagues see a real opportunity to integrate composting and food growing education into all of their programming – and so do we! We’re looking for funding to support them in establishing those composting systems and accessing whatever education needed.

Posted in Blog, Board, Composting, Featured, Food Security

Heavy Metal Soil Testing FAQ

July 16, 2025

We are continuing to accept samples heavy metal soil testing until September 30th. See below for some Frequently Asked Questions about our program.

Posted in Blog, Healing City Soils

Fall Plant Sale Fast Approaching!

July 4, 2025

The Compost Education Centre (CEC) is hosting our annual all-organic Fall plant sale! August 9, 13-16, 10:00am-4:00pm!

The plant sale will take place in our site at 1216 North Park street. Entry by donation or free for CEC members. Dogs welcome.

The Fall Organic Plant sale features veggie starts that are perfect for your overwintering vegetable garden.

What you can look forward to:

• A selection of annual vegetables suitable for fall and winter growing

• Native plants for your low maintenance garden

• Perennial edibles like berry bushes and other fruiting shrubs

• Medicinal herbs like English lavender, chamomile and yarrow

The Compost Education Centre is located on unceded and occupied Indigenous territories, specifically the land of the Lekwungen speaking people—the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. These nations are two of many, made up of individuals who have lived within the porous boundaries of what is considered Coast Salish, Nuu-Chah-Nulth and Kwakwa’wakw Territory (Vancouver Island) since time immemorial. At the CEC we seek to respect, honour and continually grow our own understandings of Indigenous rights and history, and to fulfill our responsibilities as settlers, who live and work directly with the land and its complex, vital ecologies and our diverse, evolving communities.

Compost Education Centre memberships get you free workshops, discounts at garden centres around town and more great perks! Sign up or learn more on our website.

Accessibility Information

The Compost Education Centre is committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive experience for all our community members.

Getting to the Compost Education Centre

The Compost Education Centre is located at 1216 North Park St. The closest bus stops are:

• Pandora Ave at Chambers St (Stop ID: 100169) (300 meters away) served by Routes 2, 5, 27, and 28;
• Cook St at Balmoral Rd (Stop ID: 100160) (350 meters away) served by Routes 24 and 25;
• Fernwood Rd at Grant St (Stop ID: 100227) (450 meters away) served by Route 22; and
• Bay St at Cedar Hill (Stop ID: 103733) (750 meters away) served by Route 10.

A bus transit planner is available on the BC Transit website (https://www.bctransit.com/victoria/).

The Compost Education Centre is accessible by bicycle, and there is ample bike parking available. Bike routes are visible on the CRD website (https://maps.crd.bc.ca/Html5Viewer/?viewer=BikeMap).

Parking

Parking is very limited. The closest parking options during the week are:

• Two 2-hour parking spots at the corner of North Park St and Chambers St (50 meters away);
• Three 2-hour parking spots at Haegert Park (100 meters away);
• One 1-hour parking spot at the corner of North Park St and Cook St (250 meters away);
• Multiple 1-hour parking spots on Gladstone Ave opposite the Fernwood Community Centre (300 meters away); and
• One 1-hour parking spot at the corner of Caledonia Ave and Cook St (350 meters away).

All other parking within 400 meters of the Compost Education Centre is residential-only. While construction is occurring adjacent to the Compost Education Centre at 1211 Gladstone Ave (projected to be complete in June 2025), parking is even more limited.

On Saturdays, parking is available in the Victoria High School parking lots that are accessible off Grant St and Gladstone Ave. From these parking lots, it is less than a 300 meter walk to the Compost Education Centre.

Site Accessibility

The Compost Education Centre site has paths made of wood chips. Mobility devices with wheels (such as wheelchairs, walkers etc.) are sometimes difficult to use on site. The Strawbale learning classroom is accessed via a wooden ramp, and it has a wide double door and a ramp leading up to it. Once inside the Strawbale, the floor is a level hard surface. There is a single-stall gender-neutral washroom on site. The washroom is not wheelchair accessible. There is a wooden ramp up to the washroom door and a small step over the doorframe into the washroom. The retail space is not wheelchair accessible; there are four steps up into our retail space.

Posted in Announcement, Blog, Events, Organic Gardening