Composting aka life

Composting frankly is expansive then not composting, but still we should practice composting regularly cos composting is purposeful and pays back in the longer run. Composting was being practiced by the ancient Romans and there are traces of practicing composting in many religious scriptures.

Composting occurs due to the activity of microorganisms available in the soil & organic materials. Composting is nature’s recycling process that helps break down organic materials into a nutrient rich soil like substance that is extremely good for plant growth. Some argue that nature does not compost, it only mulches. Well mulching it’s self is the most basic form of composting. Through mulching nature not only saves the fertile layers of soil in the forest from washing away but also maintains a constant cycle of composting. Last weeks mulch would be today’s compost. As composting creates the skin [top soil] in nature so it’s wise to starts composting with the skin of our organic trash.

What to compost:

Composting can turn a lot of our organic trash into fertile organic goodness. If you live in a developing or a third world country then you could do a lot of composting compared to the people who live in developed countries with processed & caned food. Fruit & vegetable peels along with egg shells and dead leaves are some very basic composting ingredients that come out of our kitchens almost every day.

Where to compost:

Compost in your back yard or on your roof top or even in your garage.

Composting pot & process:

If your intend to start with kitchen based composting, a couple of large terracotta pot should be your basic apparatus, placed on top of each other with table tennis ball sized hole at the base of the top one. Now start dumping your organic raw kitchen waste except flesh into the top pot and cover it with your grass clippings or dead leaves and if you feel that the materials are too dry simply sprinkle some water. After about a couple of weeks start shaking the top pot and the broken down compost would pour down to the bottom pot which could be later on used to feed plants and vegetables.

Composting means Life:

A single spade from the middle of a compost bin contains more species of organisms than can be found above ground in the entire Amazon rain forest.

Happy water day 08

Cool Clear Water

Many a time i walked

A well beaten track

In my search for water

Cool clear water

It was hot and dry

The sun hung high

When i searched for water

Cool clear waterMischief',

the blue healer and iSearched low and highSo we could taste the water

Cool clear water

The creek we found

Low in the ground

We bathed ourselves with waterLife giving water

Cool clear water

Life began and did arise

From the embrace of water

Cool clear water

Cool clear water

Electric ivy.

Every day literally every day some thing new and ground breaking is happening in the world of renewable sources of energy. If we look 5 to 10 years back alternate sources of energy were big PV panels, good old 3 propeller wind mills and bio gas plants, but its different today not that the sources of eco friendly energies changed, it’s the shapes , sizes and efficiency, that don’t fail to amaze us with the sustainability and compatibility along with there pleasing shapes that attract our aesthetics.
Here is some thing that should be able to amaze most of us who like to peep into the world of alternate energy Teresita Cochraine’s sustainable design group, SMIT (Sustainability Minded Interactive Technology) has a gripping new project called GROW that’s an innovative and aesthetically arresting solar and wind power solution. GROW draws inspiration from ivy growing on the side of a building - resulting in a hybrid energy delivery device of leafy, fluttering solar shingles that provide power via both sun and wind. Teresa began working on GROW after cutting leaf-shaped solar panels for her brother’s project. What followed was GROW as SMIT’s first product offering, which now exists in 2 versions, GROW.1 (currently at the Museum of Modern Art), and GROW.2, a residential application built on top of a stainless steel mesh system, allowing ivy and other crawlers to grow with it.
Using a series of flexible solar cells as leaves, GROW takes the shape of ivy growing on a building- the leaves are solar cells while the wind that causes them to flutter is harvested as viable energy. Teresita hopes that the modular system would be readily available via the Moma store or Design Within Reach, rather than a commercially out-of-reach system like many traditional solar components. GROW also integrates an energy monitoring system for users to visualize their consumption. The leaves are made of 100% recyclable polyethylene, and are available in a variety of colors and opacities.
To learn more about Teresita Cochraine’s GROW & (Sustainability Minded Interactive Technology) visit http://www.ecolect.net/limelight