A filmmaker and photographer named Piotr Małecki has been making beautiful little photo-film essays about Warszawians, and he recently finished one about me. I find it (that is to say, myself) a bit melancholy: a tiny bit of hope amid mounds of difficulty and sorrow. Or is that simply melodrama? You decide.
Be sure to watch all of Piotr’s other movies (subtitled as necessary). They are gems.
WORM DAY (Photo by MH)
Yesterday we took a step towards fulfilling our Worm Dream to one day have an abundant healthy population of composting worms at Pixxe, and to help people compost their own organic waste in their own homes using worms.
WORM BIN DESIGNS (Photo by JODIE BALTAZAR)
The design we are working on is the stackable worm bin. We discovered that from a single pallet we can make three boxes and a base. The boxes will be approximately 40 cm x 30 cm, with a depth of either 12,5-13 cm or 21 cm. We’ll start with 12,5 cm.
THE FIRST BOX (Photo by MH)
WOMAN MESMERIZED BY A WORM BOX (Photo by MH)
PLASTIC BIN WORM HOME (Photo by JODIE BALTAZAR)
Our first batch of worms are living in this 20 liter black bucket. Dimensions: 35 cm diameter, 25 cm deep. First, the bedding: brown leaves, damp cardboard, newspaper, paper, straw–all of these ripped, shredded, or chopped, plus some wood chips. To this approximately 3 cups of water were added as well as 1 handful of sand, 1 handful of good soil from the garden, and 1 handful of crushed egg shells. Mix well. The bucket, about 80% full, was then left for about two days to let the water soak in. The consistency of the bedding was like a damp sponge, as is often recommended.
Into the bucket went the 500 red composting worms (dżdżownice kaliforniskie, Eisenia fetida) along with the bedding in which they were sent, which was quite decomposed. The worms quickly scurried down and out of sight. Next the bucket was topped off with a 10cm layer of leaves and straw. I decided not to drill holes in the bucket because it has quite a bit of surface area for “breathing” and the bedding itself has quite a bit of air space. So, I will need to check frequently to make sure it’s getting enough air. The bucket is in the bathroom, where it’s nice and toasty.
WORM FOOD (photo by JODIE BALTAZAR)
We have more than 500 composting worms who need a home. This, in fact, is a very small amount of worms! Did you know that 1 kg of worms (that’s 1000!) can eat up to 0.5 kg a day in waste. That’s almost 4 kg per week. Come and and prototype worm bins with us on Saturday, October 6 from 13.00-17.00. We’ll be using wood pallets and plastic bins. If you can, bring a plastic bin at least 25 cm deep or a pallet!
Mamy ponad 500 dżdżownic kompostowych, które potrzebują domu. Przyjdź, zaprojektuj i zbuduj z nami protoyp pojemnika na dżdżownice z drewnianych palet i plastikowych pojemników.
2 Bikes. 2 Bike Carts. 5 Days. Nance Klehm, Jodie Baltazar and A BUNCH of other cool women, plus a few good men. 15,000 liters of waste. THIS was the SOIL GARDEN PROJECT! (And it’s not over! Every other Saturday we will continue…..) Photos by Nance Klehm, Jodie Baltazar, and Jen Knowlton.
EMPTY BINS AWAIT THE WASTE
BROWNS FOR COMPOSTING - STRAW, WOODCHIPS
FIRST WE TAKE THE BINS TO BANACHA MARKET
IT'S NOT LONG BEFORE THE BINS ARE FULL
WE LOAD UP THE CARTS WITH VEGETABLE SCRAPS AND CARDBOARD
WE RIDE TO THE GARDEN WITH THE PRECIOUS LOAD
WE CAN'T RESIST THE GARBAGE IN THE CARREFOUR BINS
THERE'S SO MUCH CABBAGE WE DECIDE TO CALL IT CABBAGE COMPOST
WE TOP THE CABBAGE WITH STRAW, CARDBOARD, PAPER
IN THE AFTERNOONS NANCE LEADS WORKSHOPS ABOUT COMPOSTING
THE FIRST THING IN THE NEW BIN: WOODCHIPS & CHUNKY YARD CLIPPINGS
HERE IS SOME WASTE FROM BANACHA THAT WILL GO IN THE BIN
BUT FIRST WE HAVE TO RIP THE WASTE
AND WE HAVE TO CHOP THE WASTE
SO MUCH TO CHOP. EVERYONE GETS A GO!
SOME OF US PREPARE THE CARDBOARD
THE TRANSLATOR DOES AN AWESOME JOB!! THANKS STAN!!
NEXT WE ADD SOME HERBS LIKE VETCH....
...AND WHY NOT THROW IN SOME DANDELION???
NEXT WE MAKE SOME COMPOST TEA
ALL THAT WASTE AND THE BINS ARE STILL ONLY HALF FULL - WOW!
The garbage bins at Banacha
Yesterday, my wonderful friend Gaja and I went to the administration of Banacha. Some really nice people are in charge. I didn’t understand much, which made me sad, because the people were so interesting and funny and kind. What I did understand was that if I had a container with a lid, then I could take the waste. It seems we can take as much as we want, whenever we want, for as long as we want! The Pixxe Garden will be making a lot of humus this fall!
I also talked to really great person from Ulica Ekologiczna yesterday. And yesterday, the Gazeta Wyborcza published an article about Pixxe and my activities. It’s great to see such interest in the project. Hurrah.
Cykl Warsztatów: OD ODPADY DO ŹYZNOŚCI
prowadzenie Nance Klehm
ENGLISH BELOW
UWAGA: Nastąpiła zmiana w planie warsztatów. Sobota będzie “Otwarte warsztat.” Warsztat w niedzielę (Dlaczego i jak budować toalety kompostujące w mieście) również zawierać temat “ekstremalny kompost na ekstremalne czasy.”
Pozwól zgnić, czyli jak kompostować odpady organiczne
Piątek, 17 sierpnia, godz.: 15.00-17.00. Sugerowana dotacja: 30 PLN.
Liście, resztki jedzenia, papier, tektura, gałęzie, fusy, biodegradowalne przedmioty itp. Te rzeczy mogą zostać zamienione w ziemię, ale jak to zrobić? Na tym warsztacie będziecie mogli zadawać wszystkie pytania dotyczące “brudu” i sami też będziecie mogli się pobrudzić w trakcie budowy stosu organicznych odpadów. Zarejestruj się w tym warsztacie
Otwarte Warsztat
Sobota, 18 sierpnia , godz.15.00-17.00. Sugerowana dotacja: 30 PLN.
W tym warsztaty, zdedycujemy co zrobimy na miejscu. Możliwe tematów: vermicomposting, przemyślenia przestrzeń publiczną. Zarejestruj się w tym warsztacie
Dlaczego i jak budować toalety kompostujące w mieście
Niedziela, 19 sierpnia, godz.15.00-17.00. Sugerowana dotacja: 30 PLN.
Rozpoznaj w swoim ciele twórcę gleby. Dowiedz się, jak zbudować i prowadzić prostą suchą toaletę dostosowaną do gęstego, miejskiego otoczenia. Po dyskusji pokażemy, jak za pomocą termofilnego kompostowania przekształcić twoje odpady (i inne odpady zakazanego n.p. mięso, tłuszcz, i produktów mlecznych) w życiodajną glebę.. Zarejestruj się w tym warsztacie
Rozpoznaj rośliny w swoim mieście
Poniedziałek, 20 sierpnia, godz.15.00-17.00. Sugerowana dotacja: 30 PLN.
Spacer odkrywający roślinność Warszawy, podczas którego będziemy mogli nauczyć się rozpoznawać rośliny, poznać ich botaniczne pochodzenie, historie wykorzystania ich przez ludzi i zwierzęta, a także podzielimy się przepisami na antidotum z wykorzystaniem niektórych z nich. Zarejestruj się w tym warsztacie
PARTNERS:
**************** IN ENGLISH *****************
NOTICE: There has been a change in the workshop schedule. Saturday there will be an Open Workshop. The composting toilet and extreme composting workshops will be combined and take place on Sunday.
Workshop Series: FROM WASTE TO FERTILITY
Conducted by Nance Klehm
Let it Rot 101: Composting organic waste
Friday August 17, 15.00-17.00. Suggested donation: 30 PLN.
Leaves, food waste, paper, cardboard, branches, coffee grounds, biodegradable utensils, etc. These are all things that we know can become soil but how to do it? This workshop is the place to get dirty and ask those dirty questions as we discuss and build a mesophilic compost pile out of organic wastes from Warsaw’s waste stream. Register for this workshop
Open Workshop
Saturday August 18, 15.00-17.00. Suggested donation: 30 PLN.
We will decide on the theme and activity on the spot, depending on who is there and what we want to do! Possible themes: vermicomposting, rethinking public space, or another foraging expedition. Register for this workshop
Dry toileting in an urban setting: the whys and hows
Sunday August 19, 15.00-17.00. Suggested donation: 30 PLN.
Reconnect with your body as a soilmaker! Find out how to build and operate a simple dry toilet appropriate to a dense urban setting. We will also discuss and demonstrate how to safely compost your waste, as well as other extreme waste such as meat, fat, and dairy products, through thermophilic composting into nutritious, life-supporting soil. Register for this workshop
Urbanforage
Monday August 20 15.00-17.00. Suggested donation: 30 PLN.
This is a guided walk through
the spontaneous and cultivated vegetation of Warsaw’s urbanscape. Along the walk, we learn to identify plants, hear their botanical histories, stories of their use by animals and humans, and share antidotes of specific experiences with these plants. Register for this workshop
This is one phrase that definitely sounds better in Polish and one that most of us non-natives can actually pronounce: Dawców Odpadów [DAHV-tsoo ohd-PAH-doov].
SOIL GARDEN PROJECT to cultivate soil from waste
We want your (organic) waste
What is it:
Using bikes we will collect organic waste from residents, business, organiczations, and public institutions in Rakowiec and Szczęśliwice and turn it into soil. Currently we are looking for Waste Donors.
How it works:
First we determine what kind and how much waste you generate. We agree on how often, where, and when we can collect your waste. Next we provide you a container and start. If you live in the pick-up zone and produce 20 liters of waste per week, then you’re the right person. Don’t have enough waste? Combine yours with a neighbor!
When it will happen:
We can start with some pickups now, but the big effort will be from Friday August 17 to Tuesday August 22. We plan to continue the project so if you are interested in participating, please let us know.
DOWNLOAD THIS CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
From August 17-22, NANCE KLEHM, an ecological systems designer, will be in Warsaw to help conduct Pixxe’s SOIL GARDEN PROJECT! Right now we are looking for volunteers.
The Soil Garden Project will cultivate soil from waste. Using bicycles we will collect and compost organic waste such as food scraps, coffee grounds, cardboard, yard trimmings, and so on from residents, businesses, organizations, and public institutions in the Warsaw neighborhood of Ochota (Rakowiec/Szczęśliwice). We aim to process 8-10,000 liters of waste during the project and turn it into humus for the 2013 growing season. Ongoing, we hope to process up to 1,000 liters per week.
During the project three WORKSHOPS will be lead by Nance: a Soil/compost workshop, a Composting toilet workshop, and an Urban Forage event. An Urban Feast will close the project.
Currently we are LOOKING FOR PARTICIPANTS: Planners, Waste Donors, Waste Collectors, Waste Processors, Workshop Participants, and Filmmakers.
Please contact Pixxe at pixxe.org@gmail.com or call Jodie at 48 796 532 208.
Share this call! DOWNLOAD THIS CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Composting with anarchists (and dogs)
Yesterday I went down to SYRENA, Warsaw’s friendly local squat, to help build a compost bin. There are 14 or more vegetarians who live and/or eat there. A lot of their food is dumpster-dived, although nowadays the term has been upgraded to freegan charmingly rendered in Polish as freeganski. So they have a lot of waste. But like good anarchists, they have difficulty organizing themselves to do anything about it. So huge piles of rotten food may be found lying about…
I arranged a few months ago to take their waste. They were going to deliver it to me at the Railroad Garden once a week. The first three or four weeks after we made the arrangement, they didn’t call, respond to my emails, or show up. That’s partly because they were supporting a raid on another friendly, local squat and partly because they couldn’t organize themselves to do anything about it. Eventually I got a call to meet them at a certain time. That time came and went. Well, let’s say that eventually we met up, but it was getting dark. They had an enormous amount of waste. Maybe 200 liters, I’d say. We buried it like a stolen treasure as night fell, fell, fell.
Well, they decided to deal with their own waste and build a compost bin. Great! When I arrived, one tired woman was disassembling a pallet. Eventually others were russelled up. Some people set to work to build the bin; others helped to rip up paper; a few more started to sort through the various garbage piles, separating compost from organic waste from garbage. But after a couple of hours almost everyone seemed to have magically disappeared, except me and a very resourceful, energetic guy named Gibbon. There were another couple of guys, but this is what would happen: I’d put a shovel in one of the guy’s hand, and he’d shovel a couple of things. Then he’d get a phone call. Then he’d lean on his shovel for a while. Then he’d sort of wander off as he chatted on the phone, leaving the shovel behind. It was very funny.
Fortunately, Gibbon and I finished the thing. Then we went inside where I was served the most delicious homemade lightly salted (małosolne) pickles I’d every eaten in my life!!!!
