Community Compost

Our Community Compost Action Team wants to reduce climate pollution, increase nutrition, and support local farms.

Adam Holtey

Volunteer, Owner of Rogue Produce Community Compost

Adam Holtey has lived in the Rogue Valley since he was two years old. In 2011, Adam launched Community Compost, a residential food scrap pickup service. Community Compost prevents this valuable resource from going into our local landfill, instead donating it to local farmers, who recycle the nutrient-rich material back into the soil to grow the local produce we all love.

Adam’s interest in agriculture was sparked by generations of his family farming in Iowa. This legacy, combined with the fact that no one else was providing this needed service in the Rogue Valley, propelled him to get involved.

Bob Altaras

Volunteer, Founder of SOMRA and Lend Me a Plate

Bob has lived for over 25 years as a resident of Ashland. He’s a retired business owner, tutor, and mentor. An active volunteer, Bob works on issues related to homelessness and waste reduction. He is one of the founding members of Southern Oregon Master Recyclers in Action (SOMRA) and its Lend Me A Plate project – and is a strong advocate for the concept and practice of Zero Waste.

Bob is an avid gardener and composter and enjoys world travel, hiking, biking, fishing, woodworking, and singing.

Candace Turtle

Co-Founder and Board Member Emeritus, Ashland Climate Collaborative

Candace Turtle was the first compost captain for a Community Compost neighborhood drop-off point. She also helped establish the free food scraps drop-off bins at the Tuesday farmers market. She has a background in communications and development, working as a reporter or editor for The Miami Herald and San Jose Mercury News, as well as in management positions. She later headed up communications and marketing for Trend Micro, Inc. in its start-up phase. Locally, Candace was the executive director of Ballet Folklorico Ritmo Alegre and managed communications and development for the Ashland Independent Film Festival. She founded Rotary of Ashland’s Environment & Sustainability Committee and sits on the board of the J.F. Kapnek Trust.

Flavia Franco

Volunteer, Founder of Southern Oregon Food Solutions

Flavia Franco has been building her climate change knowledge base and outreach experience since 2006, focusing on food waste issues since 2019 when she joined as a volunteer with Southern Oregon Food Solutions.

She completed the Master Climate Protector class sponsored by Southern Oregon Climate Action Now and the Community Composting 101 class sponsored by the Institute of Local Self Reliance and she is an active member of Ashland’s Bellview Grange. She is also a founding member of the Ashland Climate Collaborative’s Neighborhood Climate Action Network.

You may know Flavia from seeing her working at the Tuesday Growers Market compost bins through rain, snow, sleet, and 100° heat.

Magdalena Winter

Volunteer, Founder of Ashland Community Composting

Magdalena is the Executive Director/Manager of the nonprofit Ashland Community Composting. She studied permaculture design, biodynamic agriculture, and soil regeneration. She most recently completed a Community-Scale Composting Systems course.

Her nonprofit offers food scraps pick up and collection sites in Ashland. They use the bokashi method of breaking down food scraps, which allows meat and bones to be processed into compost through fermentation.

When Magdalena’s not thinking about all things compost, she can be found hiking with her dog.