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Who is Ellen Sandbeck?
 Ellen Sandbeck was born in San Francisco in 1958. She was raised in Marin County, and graduated from the College of Creative Studies at U.C. Santa Barbara in 1979 with a B.A. in studio art. After graduation she quickly learned what "starving artist" meant.
She and her future husband started an organic landscaping business in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1980. They began with tools purchased on credit from their first client, and commuted to their first job (tools and all) via the B.A.R.T. (Bay Area Rapid Transit).
Huge amounts of library and field research helped Ellen Sandbeck formulate a philosophy and practice of organic landscaping, which was efficient, healthy and fun. Ms. Sandbeck lost 35 pounds in her first year of landscaping, without dieting or other exercise.
Ellen and her husband, Walter, moved to Duluth, Minnesota in 1985, in search of a slower pace of life. Their family had expanded to include two children, two dogs, and thousands of composting worms.
Ms. Sandbeck grows and sells composting worms and has set up worm composting systems for individuals, schools, businesses, and the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth, where a one hundred foot long bin is used to compost food waste from the camp.
Some of her projects include:
- Vermicomposting system - Stow Elementary School, Duluth, MN (750 gallons)
- Vermicomposting system - Federal Prison Camp, Hermantown, MN (100 feet long)
- Vermicomposting system - Fond du Lac Reservation (600 gallons)
- Vermicomposting system - Lake Superior Zoo
- Vermicomposting greenhouse prototype, Independent project, 4781 Emerson Rd., Duluth
Publications include:
- Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles, self-published, 1985
- Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles, Broadway Books, 2000
- Eleven books of graphics for Dover Publications
- Eat More Dirt, Broadway Books, 2003
- Organic Housekeeping, Schribner, 2006
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Of herself, Ellen writes:
I am a very simple soul. My family and my planet are the most important things in my life, everything else in the world comes in a distant second. Though I must admit, the prospect of sinking my teeth into a nice juicy project makes me salivate. I love to tell people that I can do something I have never done before, then figure out how to do it. It can be rather like jumping out of an airplane and sewing my parachute on the way down, but it’s fun! This is how I became an organic landscaper, and how I became a vermi-composting consultant. I cram, I experiment, and I take risks. Eventually I come up with some interesting solutions.
I first became concerned about the state of the environment when I attended an “Environmental Camp” in the sixth grade. I went home and wrote a letter to President Nixon about the depradations of oil companies. I received a very patient, and personally signed, reply. When I reached adulthood, I realized that if I didn’t feel I was contributing something positive to the world, global problems kept me awake all night. So, in order to maintain my sanity and get my “beauty sleep”, I try to do my bit.
Presentations
Vermi-composting, organic gardening and organic housekeeping presentations for garden clubs; environmental groups; community clubs; the Fond du Lac Band of Minnesota Ojibwa; The Minnesota Pollution Controjl Agency; Duluth Community Gardens; elementary school children; artists' groups; high school environmental clubs; in-service classes for science teachers; public talks at the library; a speaker at waste reduction symposiums attended by state, national, and tribal pollution control administrators from across the U.S.
Media exposure
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Weekly Edition with Renee Montagne, July 1, 2000, NPR;
- The Splendid Table, Fall 2000, National Public Radio; Mid-day with Katherine Lanpher, 2000,
- Minnesota Public Radio ; Wisconsin Public Radio; Home Matters, Fall 2000,
- the Discovery Channel; KUMD,
Wisconsin Public Radio Larry Meiller Show, February 28, 2003
- "Get Growing", Talk650-KSTE Sacramento, Fred Hoffman, producer-host, April 6, 2003;
- KAXE radio station, Grand Rapids, MN, April 1, 2003;
- Miscellaneous local public and commercial radio and commercial television interviews.
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Green Visions Radio, May 9, 2006;
- KLO Radio, Salt Lake City May 18, 2006;
- Sirius Satellite Radio, Danny Seo Show, May 19, 2006
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