Meet the Composter: Linda Torres

Linda Torres

Linda Torres is a military Veteran, nurse anesthetist, farmer-florist, and a dedicated volunteer. And, she’s a fellow composter with Back to Earth Compost Crew!

Linda and her husband, Mark, live in West Conshohocken with their dog, Ari. Friends of Back to Earth Compost Crew may recognize Ari, who has been featured on our social media.

Linda and Mark are both post 9/11 era Veterans. Linda served in the Army during Operation Enduring Freedom as an ICU nurse. Mark was in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer. Mark works as project manager in medical devices. In addition to a career as a nurse anesthetist, Linda has a small, micro flower farm: Greater Connection Flowers. She grows and designs flowers for subscriptions and small events from May through mid-October. Greater Connection Flowers is a very small grower of specialty cut seasonal flowers, specializing in whimsical and fragrant bouquets reminiscent of a wild cottage garden. Her growing season has ended for the year, but will restart in the springtime with a bouquet subscription and selling flowers at a store in Ardmore, Plant4Good.  You can visit her website at greaterconnectionflowers.com and follow her on Instagram.

When she’s not working, Linda spends time volunteering with the non-profit ActionTank. The most recent area of focus for the non-profit is encouraging literacy in the Greater Philadelphia Area. This quarter, Linda has connected Book Smiles in New Jersey to two hospitals and has provided nearly 4000 books to children.

Linda and Mark have been composting with Back to Earth Compost Crew for over five years. According to Linda, she chooses to compost because, “I just don’t like throwing things away, knowing they will likely go into a landfill.” She eats a lot of vegetables and fruit, so most of her waste is recycling and food scraps. She strives to have the least amount of waste go to a landfill.

Linda has many sustainable practices in her home. She does not eat meat, she drives an EV, and she collects the water that is running in the shower when it’s heating up to water seedlings or trees. Linda also has an arborist assess her trees, avoiding cutting trees down as much as possible. She shares, “Trees, especially shade trees, cut down energy costs. Think how someone in a home with tree shade doesn’t use as much AC as a house in full sun.”

Linda also has great things to say about Back to Earth Compost Crew! She says, “The staff is awesome!!! Colleen is just so kind and helpful!”

Back to Earth Compost Crew is happy to have Linda in our composting community!