By Bill Koehnlein
If you’ve ever dropped by Earth Matter’s Compost Learning Center on Governors Island, you might have met Hollis Hillhouse, long-time Earth Matter Jane-of-all-trades and our Volunteer Coordinator. If you’ve brought a group of school children to the Center it’s almost certain you’ve met her, and if you’re one of the animal care workers you have been trained in that art by her.
Animals are essential to Earth Matter’s composting project; chickens are in residence at the Center year-round, and from late Spring to early Fall goats and rabbits dwell there too. Care, nurturing and love must be given to these creatures, and Hollis is the person who established the protocols for doing so.
A former business executive, Hollis has immersed herself in issues around environmental sustainability and is one of the most active members of the Earth Matter project. We talked with her recently about her involvement.
Earth Matter: So how did a globe-trotting vice-president of a famous international cosmetics company wind up on a tiny island in New York Harbor taking care of chickens?
Hollis Hillhouse: I was riding my bike around the south end of Governors Island one Friday afternoon four summers ago and went past the Compost Learning Center. Curious about the goings-on, I went in, browsed around and was greeted by Marisa DeDominicis [Earth Matter’s co-founder and Director]. We began to talk, and she explained what went on at the Center. Not only did they compost, but they also hosted school kids and taught them about the composting cycle. I thought it sounded like an amazing endeavor, told her so, and….voilà! Bob’s your uncle! I began to volunteer doing general chores, and most especially working with the school groups when they came to the Center.
During my second summer we acquired chickens, which offered a whole new aspect to the compost learning process. They became a main attraction for the public, and my special area of interest and care. The summer after that we added goats, and the summer after that rabbits. And now we have a veritable menagerie!
EM: You sure know a lot about animals. Did you grow up with them, or work with them in any way before you came to Earth Matter?
HH: I did not grow up with animals, and my family only got it’s first pet—Dixie, the lovable family beagle—long after I had moved out on my own.
EM: OK, so you’re not the farmer’s daughter. How did you, then, learn all about chicken and goat and rabbit care? Did you teach yourself, take workshops or trainings, work with someone else?
HH: Everything I know about our animals at the Center I learned from four years of careful observation as well as online studying. I had to do a lot of research for the book Chicken Composting on Governors Island that I co-authored with Marisa and Maya Ito [a Earth Matter apprentice graduate]. I worked at the Center for a year before we got the first animals (chickens), so I thought I had better study up if I wanted to take care of them. Each time we added a different kind of animal, it generated more research. By the way, I find the 4H Club websites the most reliable—they are less anecdotal and more “scientific”.
EM: You enjoy working with kids (the human kind, in this case, not goat). In working with them, how important is it for them to be with the animals, to interact with them?
HH: I think it is super important for kids to interact with animals. I believe in the principles of Humane Education, which stresses and values the interdependence of all living things. When kids’ characters are still being formed, early interaction with animals causes them to think about the needs, feelings and suffering of others. I have seen it time and time again, kids start out being kind of scared of or—particularly with boys, sorry to say—kind of “chasey” and “tormenty” with the animals. But after the kids feed the animals, hold them, pet them, the dynamic changes. The children begin to consider the effects of their actions, and see how their behavior affects others. I think these lessons can transfer to their interaction with people.
EM: When you work with small children, how do you demonstrate the connections between animals and Earth Matter’s main reason for being, i.e., composting, reduction of waste and moving toward a sustainable environment? Older kids probably grasp these connections readily, but how do you teach them to younger children? Can you use a chicken or a goat as a teaching model?
HH: Chickens and goats are good composting teachers for little kids. Just mention the word “poop” and you have their undivided attention! Actually, the awareness level of New York City first graders concerning composting is pretty high. Their parents often bring food scraps to the drop-off composting stations at the NYC Greenmarkets around the five boroughs, and they understand “recycling” very well. From recycling bottles, cans, newspapers and magazines it is a short step to “recycling” food scraps. It’s easy to cycle nourishing food, to nourishing food scraps, to nourishing animal poop, to nourishing compost—which leads right back to nourishing food.
[Editor’s note: Earth Matter is pleased to announce that Hollis Hillhouse has been nominated to its Board of Advisors and will assume that post this Fall].