Golden Carrot Winner: Yes! Compost
It is with great excitement that we celebrate another community partner with our Golden Carrot Award: YES Compost! Karl Johnson, owner, works to bring composting services to our community and schools, closing the loop in our local food system.
Karl came to Gallatin Valley through ski coaching. Once here, he became interested in becoming an environmental steward. This desire led him to composting and starting his own business. Karl believes in the importance of composting and closing the loop: it’s a better option than putting waste in the traditional landfill and helps people move towards better environmental practices in their everyday life. YES Compost aims to inspire people to see waste as an opportunity and the good it can create within communities. According to Karl, composting is a hands-on process that can be integrated into everyone’s life, which allows every person to participate in the stewardship of the land, fight climate change, and make an impact for our community.
YES Compost does more than offer composting services to community members; there’s also a strong education component as well. Education helps people understand the ethos behind composting, while directly engaging with the process. Through education, small impacts can build over time, especially when working with children at schools and summer camps. Karl finds watching students get excited about the composting process to be especially fulfilling because while it’s a small moment, he believes it can lead to collective, big changes. It gives him hope for the next generation. Karl also loves creating connections with people about composting and seeing them put compost to use within the community. It’s a cycle that continues to give.
Recently, YES Compost was contracted with the Bozeman Public School District to offer composting services at all of the schools, both front of house and back! Karl hopes to continue to expand the composting program, making it more accessible to people through services, products, and education. Additionally, YES Compost wants to continue to improve soil products for even better compost and compost derivatives to help farmers and gardeners with customized soil products.
Karl is dedicated to making composting not only accessible, but also something people feel good about doing. It’s a positive, everyday action that can have broad impacts. If you would like to learn more about YES Compost and their services, visit their website at www.yescompost.com
We at Gallatin Valley Farm to School are incredibly thankful for YES Compost’s education and composting efforts in our community! Thank you for creating a resilient, closed local food system for our community.
