What's in YOUR garbage?
ciao!
-the compost maven
...
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Birkenstock Compost--Part Deux.
Hey folks!
Guess what--I recorded another Birkenstock video. Check it out...
In short, the sandals are coming undone but that good German leather will be around for a long time at this rate. Any guesses as to how long it'll take before those shoes are soil?
ciao!
-the compost maven
...
Guess what--I recorded another Birkenstock video. Check it out...
In short, the sandals are coming undone but that good German leather will be around for a long time at this rate. Any guesses as to how long it'll take before those shoes are soil?
ciao!
-the compost maven
...
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Blue Light Lattice
Hi folks,
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. As amazingly lucky I am to have a generous and talented girlfriend who volunteers to keep my blog alive, I can't just keep relying on Alison to make blog entries for me. It's just been out of whack lately. Long story short, I need to find time not only to start two businesses and turn my (150 degree!) compost pile, but to do other things that I like to do such as connecting with all of you!
So, here's what I have for today. It's a picture of my most recent stained glass piece. I conceived it as a lattice of light, inspired by morning glories climbing towards the sun. Unfortunately, the yellow bits and the green round shapes don't shine through well in this photo. Attributable to the fact that I took it facing west this morning when no direct light was coming through.
Speaking of stained glass, I'll be in NYC this weekend and hope to check out Chagall's stained glass at the UN. Any of you ever see that? Supposed to be amazing. I'm also hoping to check out a gallery show of Kline's abstract paintings, which tend to reach into my brain's not oft used dimensions. I'll report back on what I find!
Ciao for now!
-the compost maven
...
Monday, October 6, 2008
it's coming!
Alison here for Holly again. Things're gettin' pretty crazy here at Waste Free Living Inc. The launch date is almost upon us and Hol's working like a dervish. Here she is tonight, cranking on uploading all the products onto the website.
And here she is yesterday with Sydnee and Autumn, having a summit meeting.
Soon, very soon, you can get all kinds of beautiful and indispensible green things at WasteFreeLiving.com.
Like this awesome compost thermometer, which is measuring Hol's freakin' HOT pile o' compost. 150 degrees, for the love of god.
After the launch, when things settle down, Hol will make a followup video of that decomposing Birkenstock. God, at 150 degrees the buckle might just have melted.
Stay tuned!
And here she is yesterday with Sydnee and Autumn, having a summit meeting.
Soon, very soon, you can get all kinds of beautiful and indispensible green things at WasteFreeLiving.com.
Like this awesome compost thermometer, which is measuring Hol's freakin' HOT pile o' compost. 150 degrees, for the love of god.
After the launch, when things settle down, Hol will make a followup video of that decomposing Birkenstock. God, at 150 degrees the buckle might just have melted.
Stay tuned!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
startup upstart
Hi, Holly's girlfriend Alison here. Holly’s too busy starting up WasteFreeLiving.com to tell you how busy she is starting up WasteFreeLiving.com, so I’m doing it for her. Look, her house is a disaster area, piles of catalogs and samples of lovely biodegradable and compostable things everywhere.
Here she is the other day with Sydnee, one of the eco-fabulous women helping her to get up and running.
Here she is placing her very first merchandise order last week when we were on vacation in P’town.
And here she is right now, all crazed, showing you some of her wares.
Now she's trying to figure out why people keep sending her seeds on Facebook. Facebook is rather baffling to both of us.
Also, Hol would like me to show you the extraordinarily handsome compost bins that she designed, and that have been built by local craftswomen. These will be for sale imminently.
They're not just pretty, they're HOT. Today she took the temperature of the compost in the bin in her backyard. 130 freaking degrees.
Here's her logo for the bins. See the little nuthatch? She got it made into a brand, like a for-real branding iron, which she then imprints the wooden bins with. Tssssst! The smell of burning white cedar.
Hot, I tell you.
A couple more weeks of chaos and Waste Free Living will be launched!
Here she is the other day with Sydnee, one of the eco-fabulous women helping her to get up and running.
Here she is placing her very first merchandise order last week when we were on vacation in P’town.
And here she is right now, all crazed, showing you some of her wares.
Now she's trying to figure out why people keep sending her seeds on Facebook. Facebook is rather baffling to both of us.
Also, Hol would like me to show you the extraordinarily handsome compost bins that she designed, and that have been built by local craftswomen. These will be for sale imminently.
They're not just pretty, they're HOT. Today she took the temperature of the compost in the bin in her backyard. 130 freaking degrees.
Here's her logo for the bins. See the little nuthatch? She got it made into a brand, like a for-real branding iron, which she then imprints the wooden bins with. Tssssst! The smell of burning white cedar.
Hot, I tell you.
A couple more weeks of chaos and Waste Free Living will be launched!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
A Composting Vacation
Hey folks!
Guess what. I went on vacation this past week to one of my favorite places: Cape Cod, Massachusetts. One day Alison and I were at Herring Cove Beach basking in bikinis and playing toss with our highly entertaining "buzz bomb", which is a bit like a bright orange mini nerf football that has a blue stabilizing tail. It also makes this oddly delightful buzzing sound when spiraling through the air.
Anyway, while blissfully buzz bombing away we ran into Alison's old friend, the great organizer Michelle Crone, who's now taking care of the Provincetown Unitarian Universalist meeting house (which I accidentally refered to as a church in the movie below. Sorry UU's!). When I told Michelle what I do she brought up the sad state of their old pile out behind the UU. Like most places, the composting scene in Provincetown is pretty much nonexistent. Wouldn't I just love to spend a summer there setting up a beautiful composting program that would turn all the food scraps there into black gold! Anyway, through that conversation a composting project was born. Here's a little movie about how it went down...
Other highlights for me this week included getting to meet the consistently brilliant, charming, and hilarious Kate Clinton and her girlfriend Urvashi Vaid, who are, turns out, really darn nice. If you haven't seen Kate perform lately or picked up one of her books or cd's, then you must do so ASAP.
Have fun turning those piles!
-the compost maven
...
Guess what. I went on vacation this past week to one of my favorite places: Cape Cod, Massachusetts. One day Alison and I were at Herring Cove Beach basking in bikinis and playing toss with our highly entertaining "buzz bomb", which is a bit like a bright orange mini nerf football that has a blue stabilizing tail. It also makes this oddly delightful buzzing sound when spiraling through the air.
Anyway, while blissfully buzz bombing away we ran into Alison's old friend, the great organizer Michelle Crone, who's now taking care of the Provincetown Unitarian Universalist meeting house (which I accidentally refered to as a church in the movie below. Sorry UU's!). When I told Michelle what I do she brought up the sad state of their old pile out behind the UU. Like most places, the composting scene in Provincetown is pretty much nonexistent. Wouldn't I just love to spend a summer there setting up a beautiful composting program that would turn all the food scraps there into black gold! Anyway, through that conversation a composting project was born. Here's a little movie about how it went down...
Other highlights for me this week included getting to meet the consistently brilliant, charming, and hilarious Kate Clinton and her girlfriend Urvashi Vaid, who are, turns out, really darn nice. If you haven't seen Kate perform lately or picked up one of her books or cd's, then you must do so ASAP.
Have fun turning those piles!
-the compost maven
...
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Another Triathlon, What's Compostable?, Birkenstock Compost Video Part 1
Hi folks,
Yesterday was my big triathlon for the year. It was an olympic distance triathlon: 0.9 mile swim, 28 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. The bike is my strongest event by a long run, so to speak. I finished in 3 hours and 16 minutes--2 minutes faster this than last year. Next year I'm really psyched to start doing more technical training with a heart rate monitor, etc. Here's how it started...
Here I am pushing through the last mile of the run...
All in all it was a busy day because after the triathlon Alison and I picked wild blueberries, drove all over the back roads of Vermont, and then made this little video of me composting my old birkenstock sandals that were already starting to rot with mildew (because they were very old plus I left them out in the garage for a year!).
The "what's compostable" rule: If it was once alive it'll compost.
So why not leather, rubber, and cork sandals? Check it out...
And speaking of what's compostable, on a previous post I was asked by not drowning waving about large scale versus backyard composting. Here's what was asked:
"hey Holly
do you know much about City composting? Our council here in London (Camden) has just introduced organic waster pick up service - little bins and all.
But they say you can compost things that in my other life as a more rural composter I would never have put into my compost.. and it got me wondering how these things work and maybe you might know??
Perhaps the compost pile of a city is so huge and so hot that anything can be broken down??"
My short answer: you can compost anything in your backyard, including meat, bones, and dairy. The only requirements are that your pile be enclosed (to keep out the critters) and you manage it properly. Managing your compost pile means having the right recipe and turning it regularly. Also, you gotta make sure you have at least 2 bins available for composting. When one bin is full you can start a new batch while letting the 1st one turn into compost (without continually adding more food scraps). And it really doesn't take a huge pile to heat up. That's what I do in my backyard. Of course, I had to design my own bins, which work awesome and look lovely. (These will be for sale on the web in the very near future.) But if you just have an open pile that any dog or raccoon can get into then you might not want to put the meat and bones in. And it's a crying shame to throw these valuable resources away when they could be turned back into fertile soil. Large scale compost facilities are in the business of managing their piles properly. That's why they can take anything. But you can do it too! That's the beauty of it.
Thanks for your compost questions. It's just about my favorite topic.
ciao!
-the compost maven
...
Yesterday was my big triathlon for the year. It was an olympic distance triathlon: 0.9 mile swim, 28 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. The bike is my strongest event by a long run, so to speak. I finished in 3 hours and 16 minutes--2 minutes faster this than last year. Next year I'm really psyched to start doing more technical training with a heart rate monitor, etc. Here's how it started...
Here I am pushing through the last mile of the run...
All in all it was a busy day because after the triathlon Alison and I picked wild blueberries, drove all over the back roads of Vermont, and then made this little video of me composting my old birkenstock sandals that were already starting to rot with mildew (because they were very old plus I left them out in the garage for a year!).
The "what's compostable" rule: If it was once alive it'll compost.
So why not leather, rubber, and cork sandals? Check it out...
And speaking of what's compostable, on a previous post I was asked by not drowning waving about large scale versus backyard composting. Here's what was asked:
"hey Holly
do you know much about City composting? Our council here in London (Camden) has just introduced organic waster pick up service - little bins and all.
But they say you can compost things that in my other life as a more rural composter I would never have put into my compost.. and it got me wondering how these things work and maybe you might know??
Perhaps the compost pile of a city is so huge and so hot that anything can be broken down??"
My short answer: you can compost anything in your backyard, including meat, bones, and dairy. The only requirements are that your pile be enclosed (to keep out the critters) and you manage it properly. Managing your compost pile means having the right recipe and turning it regularly. Also, you gotta make sure you have at least 2 bins available for composting. When one bin is full you can start a new batch while letting the 1st one turn into compost (without continually adding more food scraps). And it really doesn't take a huge pile to heat up. That's what I do in my backyard. Of course, I had to design my own bins, which work awesome and look lovely. (These will be for sale on the web in the very near future.) But if you just have an open pile that any dog or raccoon can get into then you might not want to put the meat and bones in. And it's a crying shame to throw these valuable resources away when they could be turned back into fertile soil. Large scale compost facilities are in the business of managing their piles properly. That's why they can take anything. But you can do it too! That's the beauty of it.
Thanks for your compost questions. It's just about my favorite topic.
ciao!
-the compost maven
...
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