Ideaplants

Somebody at the ecovillage, I visited in summer, said to me:

“It’s sad how we take nutrients from the earth and
rather than giving them back we waste precious drinking water (see toilets) or fill dump sites.”

Good point, I thought.

Shortly after that I got introduced to wormeries and decided that this was my chance of giving back (a little).. What is a wormery?

“A Wormery is a box system that contains composting worms .. [and] .. is an easy, convenient, environmentally-friendly and efficient way of turning your waste kitchen scraps into high quality super-rich compost all the year round.”

For a normal compost one would need a garden, but the good thing about a wormery is, that it can be done indoors as well, in fact the worms work best at temperatures between 14-25° Celcius. I don’t really need all that earth, but some friends already expressed an interest in it and I bet the trees on my street will be happy takers as well.

So how do you get started?

1. Get 2 opaque boxes and a lid (In my case I use another box as the lid). Of course you can also buy wormeries in stores, but they are rather expensive (over 100EUR I was told)
2. Punch holes into one of the boxes and the lid. The box with no holes will be at the bottom, this is where very nutritious water (leachate) released in the process will be collected. The lid needs to have holes, so the worms can breathe.
3. Fill the box with the holes with a mix of 2-3cm shredded newspaper and cardboard. (I just teared it into small pieces.)
4. Get some worms and place them on top of the shredded paper mix. (Worms come with the compost they currently live in and can be picked up here for free)
5. Add some organic waste, approximately the amount of the compost with the worms. (Do not use orange peels or anything cooked.)
6. Cover with a sheet of wet newspaper (this will keep flies from enjoying the waste)
7. Leave the compost to itself for 1-2weeks. The worms have to get used to their new environment.
8. Now you can start adding more organic waste. Remember to always cover it to keep out flies (If you don’t like the newspaper approach a cotton towel can be used as well.)

Questions? Check out this FAQ or comment on this post.

Cheers,
Sylvia

The other day I went to the a session at the Imagination club site in Brussels.


The format of this gathering is quite simple:

• One person gives a workshop on any creative (preferably non commercial) topic.
• Anyone can come and join the workshop for a small donation to cover snacks and room rent.
• The presenter gets a round of feedback where people can say what they liked, what could be improved and what new things they take with them.

Simple format, a very relaxed atmosphere, an inspirational workshop and a nice drink with participants afterwards rounded off a very nice evening.


Thanks very much for organizing this Jeffrey & Andy. I’ll be back for a next session for sure.


For more info and the agenda of upcoming & past events, visit the Imagination club site in Brussels or the global site.


Cheers,


Mira

The Teekampagne (tea campaign) is quite a simple concept. Günther Faltin (professor for entrepreneurship in Germany & founder of the tea campaign) asked himself: why is tea affordable in China but so expensive in Europe?
› Continue reading

Sustainable agriculture is also possible in cities.The website of the ‘Urban Permaculture Guild’ in Arizona, US gives you some nice images and impressions on this concept.

To mix with some of the experts, visit:

http://www.urbanpermaculture.info/

Resources on Permaculture:

AMPOLO has been developed as an exchange platform for good ideas.

Have you every heard about Permaculture design for self sustained communities?
Intro to the basic concepts: www.gburnett.unisonplus.net/Perma/

Great in depth resources: www.permaculture.info/

www.permaculture.org.au/ active Forum with lots of info.. Not only for Australians

Here two sites on Permaculture in Wiki-Style:

www.appropedia.org, permaculture.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page