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Worm Day

Oct 072012
 
WORM DAY

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

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

THE FIRST BOX (Photo by MH)

MESMERIZED BY A WORM BOX

WOMAN MESMERIZED BY A WORM BOX (Photo by MH)

PLASTIC BIN WORM HOME

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

WORM FOOD (photo by JODIE BALTAZAR)

The worms were left alone for about 3 days to get used to their new home, and today we fed them 250g of finely chopped and rotting pears, apples, blueberries, raspberries, cabbage, kale, lettuce, zuchinni, coffee grounds, banana peels, egg shells. YUM! Go worm, go! We put the food in one half of the bucket, buried about half way. They looked really great in there wiggling around. When the stackable bin is finished, I’ll post some more photos! Thanks MH for taking photos!

HOME FOR A WORM

Oct 032012
 

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.

HOME FOR A WORM

 

Applecious

Sep 272012
 

Thanks to Wojtek and Aneta from foodconnect.pl for taking these great photos of APPLE TIME last Sunday Sept 23, 2012. We canned about 3/4 of the apples!

PEEL

PEEL

CHOP

CHOP

KIDS WERE GREAT!

KIDS WERE GREAT!

THE BUSY TABLE

THE BUSY TABLE

Banacha: Test drive / Jazda próbna

Aug 112012
 
Banacha waste is pretty and good!

Banacha waste is pretty and good!

Today I did a test drive to see how it would work to take Banacha’s organic waste next week. At 7AM, I took a 120 liter (about 45 gallons) container to the amazing, beautiful woman who handles the garbage there. She told me she could fill it in an hour. She also told me that we could to the test today, but that the Security wants me to have permission from the market administration to continue next week. She gave me their number. I have to call on Monday. I’m scared. In my experience so far with Polish officials, “Permission” is another word for “No.” But she also said that they were nice people, so I can hope.

At 8AM, I returned and the container was full. We tried to put it in my bike cart. My bike fell over. Too heavy. So we put it into two huge garbage bags. That worked. The ride back was slow but smooth. The bearings in the wheels of the cart made a sound, however, that tells me they won’t be working long… I returned four times and collected about 800 liters or so.

With two bikes we could easily collect twice that much.

What’s great about fresh vegetable waste is that it is so beautiful and smells good! However, I can’t process it until tomorrow, when it might not be so pretty. Thank goodness the weather is cool…..

Od odpady do źyzności: Rejestruj na warsztaty

Aug 082012
 

Nance KlehmCykl 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:
Ulica ekologicznaSocial Ecologies


 

 

 

**************** 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

Pixxe’s new garden

Aug 012012
 
Pixxe Garden - Public Entrance

Pixxe Garden - Public Entrance

Pixxe has a new garden! It has been given the most original name: PIXXE GARDEN. It’s located in Rakowiec on the border of Szczęśliwice in Ochota, Warsaw, Poland.  GPS 52.198990, 20.967910, to be precise. We still have the Railroad Garden, but the main activities will now take place at the Pixxe Garden.

It will be open to the public for the upcoming SOIL GARDEN PROJECT, but there is an awful lot of work to do to make it ready for more ambitious activities. I’m hoping that with this new, more accessible, and less primitive garden (for example, it has water), we will be able to open up on a more regular basis by next spring. As such, Allotment Sunday / Niedziele na działce won’t be happening for awhile — it will be more like Codzienne na działce — everyday at the garden! So if you want to stop by, please let me know. Everyone is always welcome and there is always something to do.

Though the Pixxe Garden is not squatted, it also sort-of is. I thought I was beginning to understand how the allotment gardens work here, but now I have discovered a whole new in-between type of garden, called tymczasowy, or temporary. The Pixxe Garden is tymczasowy.

As I have written about before, there are “official” gardens (the Rodzinny Ogród Działkowy or ROD / Family Garden Allotments) and then there are “unofficial” gardens, like the Railroad Garden, which is basically a squat. ROD are gated communities. You must be a member and have a key to gain access. What is interested about temporary gardens like the Pixxe Garden is that sometimes they are located WITHIN an ROD, but are legally “unofficial”. This particular stretch of land abuts an “official” ROD and was taken by people in 1980. They have been temporary for 32 years! So the Pixxe Garden has one “Public” entrance, on Racławicka, and one “Private” entrance from within the ROD Zelmot. This dual status suits me well. I like being in between. And afterall, the city owns the land in any case!

Our Car Has Eight Wheels

Jul 162012
 
Bike cart with 120 l of dirt

Bike cart with 120 l of dirt

Got a bike cart. I’m happy. I have the urge to just drive around and pick up stuff. It was advertised as a “quality model” from Germany. Anything imported from Germany is supposed to be “quality”. But I think this one was probably imported TO Germany first. From China. But hey, it will do. So I can’t barrel over the curbs at 3 mph, but it can very slowly carry 120 liters (30 gal) of dirt without a problem. Maybe even 180 (50 gal) liters. I like how our bikes take up the space of a car. GO AWAY CARS!

Our Car Has Eight Wheels

Our Car Has Eight Wheels

 

Compost House

Jul 142012
 
Yard clippings, yarrow, clover

Yard clippings, yarrow, clover

This morning I woke up early to go and collect the grass clippings from the housing complex near my allotment garden, which was mowed in its entirety yesterday. I just dug in and started to load the clippings into my wheelbarrow. The pile was so hot it was smoking; it steamed up me glasses! Isn’t it beautiful how life has, in itself, a perfect design to take care of itself, to give itself usefully back to the great pool of matter?

This stuff had a lot of plantain, clover, and  yarrow, a great compost accelerator I read somewhere. It also had a lot of dried grass and old leaves. Perfect.

I built two piles, adding straw here and there. They look like little straw houses for little hobbits. Or maybe more like my friend Zeek Sheck‘s beepers….

Compost House

Compost House

Collecting Water from the Old Ones

Jul 132012
 
Collecting jurassic water

Collecting Water from the Old Ones

In Warsaw, there are public water wells called Woda oligoceńska. Oligocene water. The Oligocene Period, I’ve learned since, occurred about 30 million years ago. Basically these are very deep wells, running more than 200m (650 ft) deep. They are housed in cute little buildings, and because it took me two years to be able to say oligoceńska, I always called them Dom wody, Water House. (But when I said Water House, not one person had any idea what I was talking about.) One can take the water all year. In the winter, you go into the house. In the summer, you tap the faucets on the outside of the house, as seen above.

In my neighborhood there are three such wells, though sadly, one of them has been closed for several months. We do not buy water. We go to the well. It tastes delicious. Someone else told me that her grandmother warned, “You must boil the water from the well before you drink it.” This never occurred to me. Two years and I’m still living, so I guess it’s O.K….

Because there is no water at the Railroad Garden, and no structure to catch it from, I haul it from the well. It’s about 2 or 3 blocks.  I used to use my bike, on which I could carry eight 5-liter bottles: three on the front, three on the back, and two on each handlebar. Now, I have a wheelbarrow and can carry 60 l (15 gallons). My arms are bulging. Soon I should have a bike cart and I’ll be able to carry 90 l (24 gallons). One liter of water weighs one kilogram. Brilliant, that.

One time an old lady came in and asked me, “Is it yellow or white?” White meant the water was good. It was white.

Allotment Sunday – June

Jun 012012
 

In June, we’ll try to get back to a semi-regular schedule. I’ve been gone or busy so many Sundays, it’s been difficult to keep the Open Time. In June the Railroad Garden will be open the following hours, except as noted:

SUNDAYS 10am-2pm

Here is a plan of major activities:

June 2 – Build a batch compost pile; Cut, trim & sort branches & wood; Dig up concrete blocks & make new paths
June 10 – OFF. GONE BIKING.
June 17 – Remove remaining garbage; Cut, trim & sort branches & wood;
June 24 – TBD, Check back later in the month

 

Allotment Sunday – May

May 022012
 

Allotment Sundays / Niedziele na działce will now be starting later in the day. Instead of 11-3 it will now run from 2-6 in the afternoon. The reason is that it’s too hot in the middle of the day.

There will be a lot of planting going on this week plus still more trimming back of weeds and trees. I would also like to build a table on Sunday…

Today, I planted some Broccoli, Kale, and herb seedlings. First Seedlings

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