What Lies Beneath with Kesiah Bascom

While we often speak of trees that tower over our heads, in this episode, we will examine what lies beneath to understand soil and how human interaction can affect the way we live on and with our land. We will also speak with Kesiah Bascom, who founded a mission-driven food scrap collection and composting program in the Merrimack Valley Region of Massachusetts.

Kesiah was the founder/owner of OffBeet Compost and has spent the past 7 years working in the sustainable agriculture and food justice realm. Raised in a household with a large garden, she has grown up valuing food and its unifying nature. Prior to starting OffBeet Compost, she was the Community Program Manager at Mill City Grows, a food access organization in Lowell, MA and she also worked at The Food Project as Assistant Grower which deeply influenced her path. Kesiah has found HOME in the Merrimack Valley Region, where she has resided for the past 6 years. She is currently in pursuit of a Masters in Public Policy at Tufts University and is a steering committee member for the Institute for Local Self Reliances Community Composting Coalition.

Composting Resources:

Compost Resources

Composting At Home | US EPA

Composting 101 | NRDC

Composting In The City (Best Ideas for Urban Composters!)

Community Composter Coalition

To learn more about Tree Speech, please visit treespeechpodcast.com. We’re thrilled to be able to offer interviews, creative insights, and stories about the natural world we live in, and the trees who guide our way. Please consider supporting us through our Patreon - every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels. Please also consider passing the word to tree loving folks, and rate and review us on Apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. Visit us also on instagram @ treespeechpodcast.

This  week’s episode was written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massa-adchu-es-et (Massachusett), and Pawtucket people, in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes, and in Virginia on the lands of the Nacotchtank and Piscataway Peoples.

Tree Speech’s host, Dori Robinson, is a director, playwright, dramaturg, and educator who seeks and develops projects that explore social consciousness, personal heritage, and the difference one individual can have on their own community. More information at https://www.dorirobinson.com

Logo design by Mill Riot. Special thanks to the Western Avenue Lofts and Studios for all their support and we would like to acknowledge the support of King Philanthropies for Drawdown Lift.

Tree Speech is produced and co-written by Jonathan Zautner.

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