Christi is an incredibly inspiring business women, dedicated to making composting easy for everyone. We are a customer of her composting company @scraps.mile.high, it's affordable, convenient, and you would be surprised how much compost we end up having after only 4 days a week!
She has been coming to Let Em Have It as a customer for years and we wanted to share with you her story on how she founded Scraps, follow her @tiny.farmstead, she lives and breathes her brand.
Read about Christi in our interview below
What are you known for in the Denver community?
I'm not sure I'm known for anything, but I'd be happy to be known as "that trash lady!" I started a composting company called Scraps back in 2017, and I think it's made a small name for itself over the years. Scraps, I hope, is known for being a small, local, woman-owned, passion-driven company, dedicated to benefiting our environment & community by making composting accessible, easy and widespread - and even cool. :
What inspired you to get into your passion?
Similar to other entrepreneurs, I was basically trying to solve my own problem - and a problem I knew others were experiencing. I was living in a condo, and couldn't compost. The building didn't offer it, and no service providers would offer it to us. Professionally, I was running communications for a sustainability-focused organization, and one of our projects had us partnering with the City of Denver to promote its 2020 sustainability goals. The goals around waste were, to put it kindly, incredibly weak - just to get our city to national average waste diversion levels in five years! - and with zero incentives to meet these goals (nor repercussions for not meeting them). I was embarrassed that we were promoting these goals, instead of demanding better. The issue kept frustrating me for almost two years, and I tried to figure out all sorts of ways to keep my food scraps from reaching the landfill - like bringing them across town to a friend's house with a compost pile, stealthily putting them in grocery store compost bins, bringing them to work, etc. And I did loads of research - dove deep into the trash pile as it were! I've always been interested in recycling, repurposing, reuse, waste diversion - but this was the beginning of becoming more of a trash-obsessed expert. I found out that there were no plans to expand composting to apartments & condominiums, and slowly formulated a plan for how it could be done as a business/service. Long story short, a series of personal and professional disappointments were topped off by the alarming election of Trump as U.S. president, and I decided it was time to give this crazy idea a try - and Scraps was born.
What advice do you wish you could give your younger self?
Oh goodness. So much advice. Most of all, give yourself more grace.
What kind of impact are you hoping to make in our world?
I'm not totally sure. I used to have quite lofty goals for my life, and now they seem much more small-scale. Certainly localized positive impact that is both scalable and sustainable, and prioritizes our environment & our wellbeing in unison. Whatever that looks like - and it's taken several attempted forms throughout my life! But what has remained constant for me since childhood: "I just want to leave a committed life behind." (Martin Luther King Jr.)
What are your hobbies?
Daily hikes with my two dogs, Bear & Moose, and as much camping & exploring with them as possible! I'm in love with rafting, and I spend as much time on the river as I possibly can each season. Can homesteading be a hobby? I have two large gardens that have gone from "let's learn what we can from this" to the center of my little mini-homestead. Still learning, of course! I'm all about learning to grow food and herbs and flowers with no-till, organic, regenerative farming methods. I've gotten way into preserving/pickling whatever I can, and preparing what I grow here in so many ways, and sharing excess with friends & community. I've also learned to make my own lotions, soaps, oil blends, scrubs, candles, etc. - some even using herbs & plants I've grown. I also have five goats and four chickens, all "misfits" or rescues, who are all wonderful sweet additions to the family and mini-farm! Apart from just hanging out living their best life, they help prepare the gardens for bed each season, and help make sure no scrap or rotten produce goes to waste.
What are your favorite forms of self care?
Last year I built what I call my "hillbilly hot tub," a simple setup from an old stock tank. Soaking in the hot tub with a glass of wine and a book or some music by the firepit on fall and winter evenings = perfection.
Where are you from?: Rhode Island
What is one of the greatest lessons you’ve learned in life?: There is so much more that we all share in common than there is that divides us.
Start your sustainability journey today and sign up to compost with https://scrapsmilehigh.com/