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Celebrating the Moon Ditch Mural | | | |
I was thrilled to join many members of the E.J. Harrison & Sons family recently to help the community celebrate the recent completion of the beautiful Moon Ditch Mural in Ventura.
This colorful and captivating piece of environmental art is now the longest mural in California and one of the longest in the world, and we at Harrison were honored and proud to be among the project’s many supporters and sponsors.
Designed by Oxnard artist Elisa Torres, the mural decorates a nearly mile-long stretch of the flood control channel that’s visible from southbound Highway 101 between Victoria Avenue and Johnson Drive. A team of artists and volunteers worked to bring her vision to life. An estimated 200 volunteers contributed through community paint days, educational programs, and beautification efforts.
Filled with images of native plants and flowers, butterflies, coyotes, egrets, herons and other flora and fauna, the mural shines a light on the beauty and diversity of our local landscape. It’s sure to bring a smile to the faces of passing motorists, train passengers and anyone else who catches a glimpse.
The Moon Ditch Mural was a true community project. It was part of VibeWell Ventura County, an initiative that uses arts and culture to support mental health and community well-being.
And it was great to see so many people joining in the June 27 celebration. Artist and designer Torres, Ventura Mayor Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios, County Supervisor Matt LaVere, Ventura County Arts and Culture Manager David Yoshitomi and many volunteers and others were all on hand.
The project was funded through Ventura County Behavioral Health, Mental Health Services Act, with additional support from private sponsors like E.J. Harrison & Sons and many community partners.
| | The ReHarvest Center:
a New Label to Tout Food Waste Recycling | | | |
Since its official grand opening in November, Agromin’s food waste recycling system in Oxnard has gone by the name Mountain View Organic Waste Processing Facility. While that’s certainly descriptive, and the name still applies, our partners at Agromin are promoting a new label, one that more succinctly captures this center’s purpose: The ReHarvest Center.
New Agromin promotional materials put it this way: “The ReHarvest Center sets a new standard for how California manages food waste materials — reharvesting organic resources cleanly, efficiently, and at scale.”
The new branding is part of an effort to increase awareness of the need for food waste recycling, the benefits of the Mountain View facility’s state-of-the-art technology, and Agromin’s ability to process more food waste and serve many more customers.
“Organic recyclers are scrambling to keep up with the growing demand for food waste recycling facilities,” Agromin CEO Bill Camarillo wrote in a recent editorial in the Ventura County Star. “Our company opened one in Oxnard last year. More need to be built, but to justify the costs, the sites require more volume.”
That’s where you come in. Summer is the time for family barbecues, picnic lunches and simple celebrations where food is a centerpiece. And it’s another opportunity for us to dedicate ourselves to making sure we recycle our food waste.
If it’s not recycled, that extra food waste ends up in landfills where it creates destructive methane gas, which in turn contributes to many of the natural weather disasters we all read about. Methane is a nasty climate change catalyst, a so-called “super pollutant” that is 84% more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to global warming. Recycling your food waste is a great way to help protect the planet. So if you haven’t started food waste recycling, now is a great time to start. All you need to do is put bagged food waste in your yard/organics cart and take it out weekly, even if you don’t have any yard waste. Let’s all get our ReHarvest Center working at full capacity!
To learn more, visit ejharrison.com/foodwaste/.
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