Guatemala blog 2011-12
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Nov 8 2011
Spent our first day at the Guadaria (day care center) at Safe Passage. It is a large, walled off compound with classrooms and green spaces and it is only a couple hundred yards from the dump.
We will have a few hundred square feet to work with and we can demonstrate most if not all of the techniques we'll be offering to the surrounding families. Safe Passage prepares close to 900 meals a day, so making any kind of significant contribution to that will not be possible on the property they own. Or will it? That is, after all, what we're going to be trying to do: grow food where it does not seem possible.
It has only rained here once in the last few weeks, but there is enough available roof area at the Guadaria to give us a lot of water should a cloudburst occur. We've been pricing collection barrels. City farming is an unimagined paradigm shift and will require commitment, but, we are no stranger to either of those.
What would you think if we called our little Guadaria Garden "Hanley's Farm"?
Nov 9 2011
Began the creation of the outdoor classroom that will be 'Hanley's Farm'. Five hundred square feet, for starters, of demonstration garden techniques. First we had to deconstruct a raised bed that was a really long way from where it would eventually live and haul it there with the help of 3 little amigos who didn't mind carrying those timbers and pushing those wheelbarrows across the whole expanse of the Guadaria. Terry and Mike had their hands full with both the deconstruction process and a group of pint sized adoring fans of deconstruction:
This particular raised bed will be the only one where we will allow the vegetables to possibly engage the underlying soil. Every other growing technique will be separated from the soil as it is too toxic. We made this bed 18" deep and filled it with clean soil. It will be our bench mark for how well the other vegetables in their restricted spaces are faring. We would like to construct a
wooden fence in front of the concrete wall of the day care center and put a vertical garden on it.
Also, we'll sink a post in the ground and use 2 liter plastic jugs as pots. This will allow us to grow 12 to 16 plants, say lettuce, on less than a square foot of land.... cool eh? Our 'sweetie of the day' (on right) seem to think that's a-ok!
write us.. bye for now, Terry/Miguel/ and Chreees
Nov 10 and 11 at the Guadaria and such:
We worked Thursday and Friday at the Guadaria at the dump and thanks to Terry and Mike and a couple of good breaks we are well on our way! The raised bed, made with 6 yards of actual clean soil, has been finished. The frame for the shallow pool wick garden, using no soil, is ready. Hanley's Farm will also have:
1. a pole garden (a pole or 4x4 placed in the ground or on a base like a coat rack) with 1 liter plastic soda bottle planters hanging on it;
2. tire planters using varying amounts of soda cans, styrofoam, old cloth, and soil;
3. a lean- to planter using eave troughs and no soil;
4. an a-frame garden using eaves with no soil and old soda bottles with a little soil;
We helped Safe Passage teacher Liz with her planting project where 250 students will have a soda bottle cut in half with a little vegetable ready for Christmas break, Dec. 2. Yes, that's cutting it a little close! We were able to 'partner up' on the ride to find soil for their project and it gave us a chance to buy some greatly needed supplies for the farm as well.
bringing soil into the project Safe Passage kids earning a little extra Q starting vegetable seeds
Nov 15
We have green at Hanley's Farm! Radish, beans, and spinach are awake. Terry and Mike have returned to the States, and Chris is finding a quasi-permanent place for Buckets of Rain to work out of. Chris will soon lay in a supply of wood and other materials to finish the structural components of the mini farm at the Guardaria at Sage Passage. It's not like you can just 'go to the store' in Guatemala City. We hire a private taxi driver- from a list suggested as trustworthy by Safe Passage- and hope that we can communicate well enough (they don't speak English) to get to the proper stores. Mike went on a shopping spree and everything went very well. He spent about an hour and a half in the office with an English to Spanish Dictionary to label the things on his list.
There is a woman in the kitchen at the Guardaria who describes herself, in Spanish, as intelligent and resourceful. She is determined to see that the waste water from the kitchen is harvested for the vegetables--what a saint! I was prepared, and I'm not making this up, to do the dishes (hundreds of them) myself to make sure that no usable water was lost. She has totally latched on to the challenge! We'll supply her with a couple of plastic 'pre wash' basins and she'll take care of the rest! This is a big deal , because we've been warned that the dry season here is severe. That's why we're going to start collecting and storing now. I'll rig the gardens with gravity fed drip irrigation and a battery powered timer to water while I'm back home for the holidays. They have a security guard, but he's not allowed to leave his post and therefor could not water the vegetables. BELOW: bags of trash pile up in the surrounding neighborhood, waiting to be sorted thru for items of value. bye for now
Nov 16
Have you ever tried to shift a paradigm without using the clutch?
Nov 18
nearly complete 'food totem' more seedlings everyday students and teacher at Safe Passage
It dawned on me today, as I worked at my simple task at the center for children under six (all of whom come from the squatters camps that surround the compound), that they have never known life without Safe Passage. And, many only know Hanley Denning as a picture on the wall at their 'home away from home'. She issued a 'call to arms' -in the words of that totally not famous song- and here we all are. Have a tomato, it's our treat....bye for now, chris
Nov 20 The more I think about these 'food totems', the more enthusiastic I become. I think the use of a poured concrete (which is a skill and a commodity all squatters possess) base with something (plastic pipe, scrap lumber, scrap metal) stuck in it, would be more practical than what I just built. Or how about old tire rims for a base? Send us your ideas! Go Lions!
Here's what's happening at the Guatemala City garbage dump.
Enjoy the pictures and dialogue! The newest items are at the bottom of the page, scroll away.
Enjoy the pictures and dialogue! The newest items are at the bottom of the page, scroll away.
Please comment or request info or aid via any of the 'contact us' opportunities.
Photos, unless otherwise noted, are property of Buckets of Rain and may be used with prior permission. Thanks!
Nov 8 2011
Spent our first day at the Guadaria (day care center) at Safe Passage. It is a large, walled off compound with classrooms and green spaces and it is only a couple hundred yards from the dump.
We will have a few hundred square feet to work with and we can demonstrate most if not all of the techniques we'll be offering to the surrounding families. Safe Passage prepares close to 900 meals a day, so making any kind of significant contribution to that will not be possible on the property they own. Or will it? That is, after all, what we're going to be trying to do: grow food where it does not seem possible.
It has only rained here once in the last few weeks, but there is enough available roof area at the Guadaria to give us a lot of water should a cloudburst occur. We've been pricing collection barrels. City farming is an unimagined paradigm shift and will require commitment, but, we are no stranger to either of those.
What would you think if we called our little Guadaria Garden "Hanley's Farm"?
Nov 9 2011
Began the creation of the outdoor classroom that will be 'Hanley's Farm'. Five hundred square feet, for starters, of demonstration garden techniques. First we had to deconstruct a raised bed that was a really long way from where it would eventually live and haul it there with the help of 3 little amigos who didn't mind carrying those timbers and pushing those wheelbarrows across the whole expanse of the Guadaria. Terry and Mike had their hands full with both the deconstruction process and a group of pint sized adoring fans of deconstruction:
This particular raised bed will be the only one where we will allow the vegetables to possibly engage the underlying soil. Every other growing technique will be separated from the soil as it is too toxic. We made this bed 18" deep and filled it with clean soil. It will be our bench mark for how well the other vegetables in their restricted spaces are faring. We would like to construct a
wooden fence in front of the concrete wall of the day care center and put a vertical garden on it. Also, we'll sink a post in the ground and use 2 liter plastic jugs as pots. This will allow us to grow 12 to 16 plants, say lettuce, on less than a square foot of land.... cool eh? Our 'sweetie of the day' (on right) seem to think that's a-ok!
write us.. bye for now, Terry/Miguel/ and Chreees
Nov 10 and 11 at the Guadaria and such:
We worked Thursday and Friday at the Guadaria at the dump and thanks to Terry and Mike and a couple of good breaks we are well on our way! The raised bed, made with 6 yards of actual clean soil, has been finished. The frame for the shallow pool wick garden, using no soil, is ready. Hanley's Farm will also have:
1. a pole garden (a pole or 4x4 placed in the ground or on a base like a coat rack) with 1 liter plastic soda bottle planters hanging on it;
2. tire planters using varying amounts of soda cans, styrofoam, old cloth, and soil;
3. a lean- to planter using eave troughs and no soil;
4. an a-frame garden using eaves with no soil and old soda bottles with a little soil;
We helped Safe Passage teacher Liz with her planting project where 250 students will have a soda bottle cut in half with a little vegetable ready for Christmas break, Dec. 2. Yes, that's cutting it a little close! We were able to 'partner up' on the ride to find soil for their project and it gave us a chance to buy some greatly needed supplies for the farm as well.
bringing soil into the project Safe Passage kids earning a little extra Q starting vegetable seeds
Nov 15
We have green at Hanley's Farm! Radish, beans, and spinach are awake. Terry and Mike have returned to the States, and Chris is finding a quasi-permanent place for Buckets of Rain to work out of. Chris will soon lay in a supply of wood and other materials to finish the structural components of the mini farm at the Guardaria at Sage Passage. It's not like you can just 'go to the store' in Guatemala City. We hire a private taxi driver- from a list suggested as trustworthy by Safe Passage- and hope that we can communicate well enough (they don't speak English) to get to the proper stores. Mike went on a shopping spree and everything went very well. He spent about an hour and a half in the office with an English to Spanish Dictionary to label the things on his list.
There is a woman in the kitchen at the Guardaria who describes herself, in Spanish, as intelligent and resourceful. She is determined to see that the waste water from the kitchen is harvested for the vegetables--what a saint! I was prepared, and I'm not making this up, to do the dishes (hundreds of them) myself to make sure that no usable water was lost. She has totally latched on to the challenge! We'll supply her with a couple of plastic 'pre wash' basins and she'll take care of the rest! This is a big deal , because we've been warned that the dry season here is severe. That's why we're going to start collecting and storing now. I'll rig the gardens with gravity fed drip irrigation and a battery powered timer to water while I'm back home for the holidays. They have a security guard, but he's not allowed to leave his post and therefor could not water the vegetables. BELOW: bags of trash pile up in the surrounding neighborhood, waiting to be sorted thru for items of value. bye for now
Nov 16
Have you ever tried to shift a paradigm without using the clutch?
Just so you know, every time someone says "Why don't those people JUST....." I quit listening, quit. "Just?" Really?
Living systems, from cytoplasm to vast oceans, from ant hills to the Andes, from apple trees to family trees, are complex beyond our ability to understand. They require a lifetime to study and an eternity to respect. Sadly, none of us will ever be quite as wise as we think we are, or as venerable as we wish to be.
"Grow little seeds, Grow!" said the man, only vaguely aware, between the hours of 3 and 4 am, that what seemed to be a command, was really just a humble request. Nov 18
Great day in the city. Carlos took me to do some procuring (ladies, that is a man, shopping) and we got almost every thing we need to complete the 'classroom'. In the afternoon I built this little 'food totem' that is just a coat rack for vegetables. I have to admit that when I was done, ugly though it was, I thought "Holy Wah", 16 veggies in about a 2 square foot footprint with only 3 pounds of soil and some styrofoam and cloth debris." "I hand picked the 'pots' out of the garbage myself", he said, meaning it. You don't really need this big of a timber but, hey, they were there- so I used em. Another week or so and we can start transplanting, don't you think? The drainage holes on the pole are aligned so that each pot drains into the pot below. By the time the fertilizer is done leaching, the plants on the bottom should be the size of Ceiba trees (look that up if you don't know what kind of tree that is, it'll blow your mind).
nearly complete 'food totem' more seedlings everyday students and teacher at Safe Passage
It dawned on me today, as I worked at my simple task at the center for children under six (all of whom come from the squatters camps that surround the compound), that they have never known life without Safe Passage. And, many only know Hanley Denning as a picture on the wall at their 'home away from home'. She issued a 'call to arms' -in the words of that totally not famous song- and here we all are. Have a tomato, it's our treat....bye for now, chris
Nov 20 The more I think about these 'food totems', the more enthusiastic I become. I think the use of a poured concrete (which is a skill and a commodity all squatters possess) base with something (plastic pipe, scrap lumber, scrap metal) stuck in it, would be more practical than what I just built. Or how about old tire rims for a base? Send us your ideas! Go Lions!
Nov 21
First day of capturing water from the kitchen. Got about 30 gallons by the time I diluted it with a little clean water. Built a lean- to for the wall. It will hold 55 plants in a footprint of nine square feet. Man, we can grow a lot of food in a small space if we do it right. Transplanted the first of the beans to the food totem. One flat of beans grew about an inch today!
Nov 22 These 11 hours days are rough, even on a young buck like me, so if I fall asleep during this installment, it will be my face doing the typing.
The 'control bed' in real soil 18" deep has been planted, as has the 'food totem'. I'm working on the vertical wall garden. I need 50 more 3 litre bottles as I want to build 2 vertwalls with juxtaposed solar exposures. The planting mix is: good river soil (purchased, 1 dollar worth does about 10 pots) and pulverized 'by hand' recycled styrofoam in a cut in half bottle with drain holes 1" from the bottom to create a pool. I hope these pictures adequately portray the fact that Einstein didn't need to be retained as a consultant on this project. Thanks to Mike 'Ironman' Binsfeld and Terry 'the unstoppable' Dardas for growing the bush bean seedlings which are the happiest beans I've ever seen, go figger.
Now, listen, you neophyte tree huggers, you. Buckets of Rain subsidizes the clean soil- which if you take the time to stomp your foot on the ground, you'll see it's pretty sustainable. Analogy: When Doctors go to Africa in an attempt eradicate polio (assuming the old Muslim tribal chiefs aren't looking, of course) they don't expect people to bring their own syringes. Get my drift? Good, now who wants to take over when I leave in March? Don't all sign up at once.... ha ha
The work we did today is dedicated to the memory of Detective Ron Halcrow of the Birmingham Police Dept., who had the prettiest fall-a-way jump shot I ever had the pleasure of blocking, maybe I should've told him. A great friend, but to be honest, I never blocked any of his shots, we were always, it seems, on the same team...
Nov 24 The limiting factor in the construction of the various techniques is, and I'm not making this up, the availability of suitable trash. I found an empty plastic bottle on my way to the bus stop, picked it up, and turned it into a planter which I hung on a cyclone fence at the guardaria. Yesterday I stayed in Antigua to 'procure', scrounging thru the publ
ic market. I came home with about 25 feet of galvanized # 10 wire for a buck. I can hang 100 bottles from a cyclone fence with it, for a penny a piece. Now we're talkin'! Also found some spinach seed that had been coated with Thiram (not that damping off has been a problem) and started 6 more trays here at our compound in Antigua.
Richard, the Executive Director at Safe Passage, came up with the great suggestion of using bamboo, which is a weed here, for the construction materials. I'm thinking about making a food totem by sinking 3 or 4 tall, narrow tin cans in a concrete base and then sliding the bamboo into the cans, using the cans for sleeves. That way if and when the bamboo rots, you can simply pull it out and replace it. C'mon! I've only got an Associates Degree, you must have a better idea! Let's have it! Give Thanks today!
Nov 28
The days are getting shorter here too, but it's barely noticeable. The bamboo ladder has been built at a cost of about 2 usd and holds maybe 20 plants. Were getting closer. A group of girls from the 'hood' that are sponsored came to help out today so we made a lot of pots and got some more beans hanging. In the middle photo, check out the single bamboo pole hanging on a concrete wall. Total cost: 45 cents. 14 planters, zero footprint. Now, we're getting somewhere!
bye 4 now, chris
Nov 29
Dec 1 - 6
Finished the bamboo totem. Holds 20 plants on a foot print of a little over square feet and costs around 4 bucks but lasts for years. If that doesn't' do it, does it need doing? The open structure of the bamboo means all plants are in the sun all the time. God, the clandestine architect....
Scored a bunch of clear plastic egg cartons today. So cool. About 25 more plastic jugs as well. Now remember, we're battling low nighttime temps (could see breath the other morning) as well as predatory birds. So, the little egg shell green houses fix all problems for a cost of....ZERO. Also, I take 2 liter jugs and cut the top and bottoms off and then cut the plastic tube- which was the bottle- in half. Walah, mini plastic hoop houses for seed trays. The bottles retain their half circle shapes. I'm going to glue a bunch of them together to equal the size of a flat so they don't blow way and are easy on- easy off. The tops and bottoms, being taller, can fit over seedlings in the fashion of how we saw Longwood Gardens grow lettuce in the winter, each plant has its own personal green house.
I have the freedom here and now to do this one important thing: I pull up a
plastic chair amongst our projects and I'll just sit for 10 minutes, 20
minutes, or however long it takes---and imagine things. My mind races
forward, interchanging parts, recombining concepts and paradigms,
looking for obvious but heretofore overlooked ways of doing
things. This is a blessed thing. I don't think you'll find a bamboo
food totem anywhere else on earth...
I can't believe there could be many families in ultra-crowded urban areas (slums or ghettos or squatters camps whatever you want to call them) on this planet who cannot afford- or would not benefit from this.
We will soon have pictures of a totem made out of concrete construction blocks and, or things that are similar.
After the turn of the new year, and this phase of the project is in good and local hands, we will begin in earnest to find a partner for a ROOFTOP garden high in Guatemala City.
Dec 9
Current state of the garden. The dry season rages on but we have collected enough water to deal with it. As for the cold, look at the plastic egg crates, we're trying to improve those low nighttime temperatures in a 'collectable' way. Left: a divot taken out of a tray by an incoming chunk of concrete from over the wall. Center: a food totem made out of dry stacked blocks with a 'lasagna' pot on top ( with 4 tomatos and some radish - to utilize the space while the tomatos are growing). Right:an overview of half of the 'lab'.
Dec 10 thru 18
We've been producing bamboo food 'totems' and 'ladders' and preparing for their placement out into the community for testing after the first of the year. Goals: Lighter, cheaper, with increasingly smaller footprints and greater portability. We try to take the inherent weaknesses in our materials and find a way to turn them into strengths.
Flats of seeds are being propagated in Antigua at the Buckets of Rain office. Beans and radishes are the stars at this time of year, being most tolerant of the low nightime temperatures. Still, a crop such as radish that should produce in 3 weeks is taking 5. It's long sleeves and vest weather here for the last couple of weeks.
We wanted to test these technologies under the most difficult scenario we could find: unreliable water supply, polluted environment, 'winter'.... well, we got our wish! If these plants thrive from November to January, it should get easier the rest of the year.
It is important to realize, if I use a term like 'Greening of the Ghetto', that it is the physical environment that is 'ghetto', not the people. They are not 'ghetto', they are wonderful, and deserve a better life.
Happy Holidays from Guatemala City and 11 Oaks/ Buckets of Rain.
Chris Skellenger, Executive Director
January 10, 2012
Access regained to the Guardaria, now known as the Escuelita because it's now an official 'school'. All plants are green and a lot bigger, our local helper Cindy did a great job. All water sources in Hanley's Garden were empty so we know little Cindy had to carry water from the building and that's a pretty long way. I don't even like to do it and I'm over a foot taller and 100+ lbs. bigger than she.
We have some beans that will be ready to pick in another couple of days and the radish crop is ready for harvest. Spinach and tomatoes are really catching on! Cabbage looks good not only to us but a few- no longer with us- cabbage worms.
If anything is going to go wrong, we want it to be here, in our food lab, rather than in the 'hood'. As might be expected, the plants in the ground are far ahead of the plants in the plastic bottles. The plants in the shade are doing much better than the plants in the sun.
We have a load of 50 plastic bottles coming tomorrow, how exciting! That's one thing that Cindy didn't catch from the translation was that we were going to pay her 1 Quetzale for every 3 liter bottle she brought in. I was afraid that there would be 10,000 of them! Alas, there were none, she must not of understood Emily's translation because that could have been a big, big payday for her. Too bad, but it sheds some light on the level of english/spanish compatibility even amongst the fluent.
I have prepared a handout for the new volunteers and employees that states exactly why Buckets of Rain is here at Safe Passage. In English and Spanish. We have 10 food totems and food ladders ready to leave the confines and go into the hood for testing and feedback.
Boy, these plants could really benefit from a soaking rain, which is nowhere in sight. Hey! Check out our new logo! Thanks to ABI in NYC, especially Amy Epstein, for their kind donation of time.
JANUARY 11, 2012
The official designation of the Guardaria as a 'school' has cost Safe Passage at least one spectacular person so far because they are no longer 'qualified'.. We saw this same situation, many times more devastating, in Lesotho, Southern Africa, when the government changed the qualifications for the position of 'principal' and didn't allow for any 'grandfathering (in Lesotho's case 'grandmothering') IN of existing administrators. I hope they know what they are doing.
Every plant got a nice bath of organic pesticide soap and all that jazz today and will be on a steady diet of Neem oil from here on in. It was an organic treatment because that's all I could get my hands on in a pinch. I came back from 'vacation' to find the garden ruled by powdery mildew, aphids, and cabbage worms. Geez, just like at your house, eh?
If you 'tree huggers' (and I am your King, by the way) think we're gonna deny people the best quality and most quantity of vegetables in a food emergency- for want of some feel good organic treatment- you're wrong. Attack our plants - especially when we can't be there to protect them -and you will get nuked.
One precious moment. .. Dear Marta of the 'rock the world' kitchen crew said to me- in our best sign language- today that it was time to stake some tomato plants! Yes! Marta, just tell me what you want me to do Senora, you got it!
tomato cage, per Senora Marta's instructions Isabel and Marta gotta get back to the kitchen making concrete for the bases of the Food Totems
Thank You to all supporters of 11 Oaks / Buckets of Rain projects. We won't let you down.
January 12,13 2011
The insecticidal soap seems to be working, primarily on the insects but the new leaves on the mildewed plants look pretty good. It's kind of nice to work in a weed free environment- a real perk of urban gardening. We took first cutting of spinach and are starting to pick a few beans here and there.
I went to the store and bought 500 styrafoam cups (yea, I buy stuff, I got money and don't have the time to scrounge- besides the old saying "living too much like a local can kill you"). We have to put the seedlings from the propagation trays somewhere, and our supply of recycled plastic containers has run out. Stacy Workman and I moved em up and then replanted the trays so the cycle continues.
Hanleys Farm gets more visitors all the time, and it's on the tour! I get 5 minutes to talk to the visiting group! I love the look on their faces. I had a nice talk with the new volunteers. I REMIND VISITORS TO THE SITE LIKE I WILL REMIND YOU NOW: HANLEYS FARM IS AN EXPERIMENTAL GARDEN DEVELOPING AND MONITORING TECHNIQUES TO GROW VEGETABLES IN THE INNER CITY UNDER THE HARSHEST CONDITIONS. If anything is gonna go wrong, do it HERE, NOT THERE.
NO RAIN, VERY LITTLE SOIL, GREY WATER FROM THE KITCHEN, COLD NIGHT TIME TEMPERATURES, RESTRICTED ROOT ZONES, DUST AND POLLUTION PARTICULATES COVERING THE LEAVES AND REDUCING PHOTOSYNTHESIS....
But, I really shouldn't talk with my mouth full!
Helping out: Isabel, Marta, and Deborah Stacey replants the radish zone
January 17, 2012
Videos coming soon! There is already a brief, 6 minute introduction to extreme urban gardening on YOUTUBE
I'm working from Antigua today, it's also laundry day. On my way to the laundromat I passed two guys leaning on gigantic bundles of bamboo. You know, the stuff I don't seem to be able to procure? Even if you don't speak the language it's easy to communicate when there is money involved. Long story short. I bought 100 ten foot long canes and Juan Carlos will deliver them to the Guardaria in Guatemala City! Don't even think about asking me to curb my enthusiasm.
Thanks to my landlady, AnnaMaria, who came down the street with me to interpret and negotiate price. That's enough bamboo to build 50 food ladders and grow 750 vegetables.
WOOWOO! The first of the Urban Gardening tutorials has hit YouTube! Go to our Extreme menu bar, check out the subtle changes, then scroll down to our new section on Urban Techniques. I don't have any cool music on my little laptop, so, there you have it....
week of January 23 Almost all of the tutorials are up on you tube. The first harvest of beans is done and we've pulled the old ones and have replanted. The tomatoes are flowering. I can't over emphasize how the cold nights here have slowed growth. But we have harvested!
It's almost time for the Service Teams and various friends and associates of Buckets of Rain to come visit Guatemala. Buckets of Rain is now on Face Book please visit us. I'm still trying to get the 'forwarding' command to work on Go Daddy so that when someone looks for Buckets of Rain they will be forwarded to this website. It seems pretty straightforward no pun intended.
Feb 6..................
First day of capturing water from the kitchen. Got about 30 gallons by the time I diluted it with a little clean water. Built a lean- to for the wall. It will hold 55 plants in a footprint of nine square feet. Man, we can grow a lot of food in a small space if we do it right. Transplanted the first of the beans to the food totem. One flat of beans grew about an inch today!
Nov 22 These 11 hours days are rough, even on a young buck like me, so if I fall asleep during this installment, it will be my face doing the typing.
The 'control bed' in real soil 18" deep has been planted, as has the 'food totem'. I'm working on the vertical wall garden. I need 50 more 3 litre bottles as I want to build 2 vertwalls with juxtaposed solar exposures. The planting mix is: good river soil (purchased, 1 dollar worth does about 10 pots) and pulverized 'by hand' recycled styrofoam in a cut in half bottle with drain holes 1" from the bottom to create a pool. I hope these pictures adequately portray the fact that Einstein didn't need to be retained as a consultant on this project. Thanks to Mike 'Ironman' Binsfeld and Terry 'the unstoppable' Dardas for growing the bush bean seedlings which are the happiest beans I've ever seen, go figger.
Now, listen, you neophyte tree huggers, you. Buckets of Rain subsidizes the clean soil- which if you take the time to stomp your foot on the ground, you'll see it's pretty sustainable. Analogy: When Doctors go to Africa in an attempt eradicate polio (assuming the old Muslim tribal chiefs aren't looking, of course) they don't expect people to bring their own syringes. Get my drift? Good, now who wants to take over when I leave in March? Don't all sign up at once.... ha ha
The work we did today is dedicated to the memory of Detective Ron Halcrow of the Birmingham Police Dept., who had the prettiest fall-a-way jump shot I ever had the pleasure of blocking, maybe I should've told him. A great friend, but to be honest, I never blocked any of his shots, we were always, it seems, on the same team...
Nov 24 The limiting factor in the construction of the various techniques is, and I'm not making this up, the availability of suitable trash. I found an empty plastic bottle on my way to the bus stop, picked it up, and turned it into a planter which I hung on a cyclone fence at the guardaria. Yesterday I stayed in Antigua to 'procure', scrounging thru the publ
ic market. I came home with about 25 feet of galvanized # 10 wire for a buck. I can hang 100 bottles from a cyclone fence with it, for a penny a piece. Now we're talkin'! Also found some spinach seed that had been coated with Thiram (not that damping off has been a problem) and started 6 more trays here at our compound in Antigua. Richard, the Executive Director at Safe Passage, came up with the great suggestion of using bamboo, which is a weed here, for the construction materials. I'm thinking about making a food totem by sinking 3 or 4 tall, narrow tin cans in a concrete base and then sliding the bamboo into the cans, using the cans for sleeves. That way if and when the bamboo rots, you can simply pull it out and replace it. C'mon! I've only got an Associates Degree, you must have a better idea! Let's have it! Give Thanks today!
Nov 28
The days are getting shorter here too, but it's barely noticeable. The bamboo ladder has been built at a cost of about 2 usd and holds maybe 20 plants. Were getting closer. A group of girls from the 'hood' that are sponsored came to help out today so we made a lot of pots and got some more beans hanging. In the middle photo, check out the single bamboo pole hanging on a concrete wall. Total cost: 45 cents. 14 planters, zero footprint. Now, we're getting somewhere!
bye 4 now, chrisNov 29
People in the street occasionally throw stuff over the wall, you never know what might come flying in (sometimes its a rock). One of the first things that came over, a couple of weeks at least ago, was 2 feet of 1 1/4" black poly pipe. I stashed it away. Today I sawed it up and made of 4 sleeves to set in concrete pad that will hold the bamboo that will replace the 6x6 you have seen in the picture near the top of this page. I also keep finding small lengths of re-bar just when I need them..... BELIEVE!
Around 2pm I headed over to the School with a flat of green beans to help the kids plant them in their pop bottle pots they had made and painted. It seems they were still working on them when I arrived so I just sort of hung around for and hour and a half. Then, here they come! Probably 8 or 9 year olds. A mayhem of kids. Man, they had a blast and were so happy with their beans. At the end of the day I sat on the volunteer bus and saw a Mom and kid walking home and she was holding their little pot as if it were all they owned. Many of the pots were verrrrry freshly painted as in, still wet. And when I got home and looked in the mirror I had paint, glitter, and a smile on my face. bye 4 now
Dec 1 - 6
Finished the bamboo totem. Holds 20 plants on a foot print of a little over square feet and costs around 4 bucks but lasts for years. If that doesn't' do it, does it need doing? The open structure of the bamboo means all plants are in the sun all the time. God, the clandestine architect....
Scored a bunch of clear plastic egg cartons today. So cool. About 25 more plastic jugs as well. Now remember, we're battling low nighttime temps (could see breath the other morning) as well as predatory birds. So, the little egg shell green houses fix all problems for a cost of....ZERO. Also, I take 2 liter jugs and cut the top and bottoms off and then cut the plastic tube- which was the bottle- in half. Walah, mini plastic hoop houses for seed trays. The bottles retain their half circle shapes. I'm going to glue a bunch of them together to equal the size of a flat so they don't blow way and are easy on- easy off. The tops and bottoms, being taller, can fit over seedlings in the fashion of how we saw Longwood Gardens grow lettuce in the winter, each plant has its own personal green house.
I have the freedom here and now to do this one important thing: I pull up a
plastic chair amongst our projects and I'll just sit for 10 minutes, 20
minutes, or however long it takes---and imagine things. My mind races
forward, interchanging parts, recombining concepts and paradigms,
looking for obvious but heretofore overlooked ways of doing
things. This is a blessed thing. I don't think you'll find a bamboo
food totem anywhere else on earth...I can't believe there could be many families in ultra-crowded urban areas (slums or ghettos or squatters camps whatever you want to call them) on this planet who cannot afford- or would not benefit from this.
We will soon have pictures of a totem made out of concrete construction blocks and, or things that are similar.
After the turn of the new year, and this phase of the project is in good and local hands, we will begin in earnest to find a partner for a ROOFTOP garden high in Guatemala City.
Dec 9
Current state of the garden. The dry season rages on but we have collected enough water to deal with it. As for the cold, look at the plastic egg crates, we're trying to improve those low nighttime temperatures in a 'collectable' way. Left: a divot taken out of a tray by an incoming chunk of concrete from over the wall. Center: a food totem made out of dry stacked blocks with a 'lasagna' pot on top ( with 4 tomatos and some radish - to utilize the space while the tomatos are growing). Right:an overview of half of the 'lab'.
Dec 10 thru 18
We've been producing bamboo food 'totems' and 'ladders' and preparing for their placement out into the community for testing after the first of the year. Goals: Lighter, cheaper, with increasingly smaller footprints and greater portability. We try to take the inherent weaknesses in our materials and find a way to turn them into strengths.
Flats of seeds are being propagated in Antigua at the Buckets of Rain office. Beans and radishes are the stars at this time of year, being most tolerant of the low nightime temperatures. Still, a crop such as radish that should produce in 3 weeks is taking 5. It's long sleeves and vest weather here for the last couple of weeks.
We wanted to test these technologies under the most difficult scenario we could find: unreliable water supply, polluted environment, 'winter'.... well, we got our wish! If these plants thrive from November to January, it should get easier the rest of the year.
It is important to realize, if I use a term like 'Greening of the Ghetto', that it is the physical environment that is 'ghetto', not the people. They are not 'ghetto', they are wonderful, and deserve a better life.
Happy Holidays from Guatemala City and 11 Oaks/ Buckets of Rain.
Chris Skellenger, Executive Director
January 10, 2012
Access regained to the Guardaria, now known as the Escuelita because it's now an official 'school'. All plants are green and a lot bigger, our local helper Cindy did a great job. All water sources in Hanley's Garden were empty so we know little Cindy had to carry water from the building and that's a pretty long way. I don't even like to do it and I'm over a foot taller and 100+ lbs. bigger than she.
We have some beans that will be ready to pick in another couple of days and the radish crop is ready for harvest. Spinach and tomatoes are really catching on! Cabbage looks good not only to us but a few- no longer with us- cabbage worms.
If anything is going to go wrong, we want it to be here, in our food lab, rather than in the 'hood'. As might be expected, the plants in the ground are far ahead of the plants in the plastic bottles. The plants in the shade are doing much better than the plants in the sun.
We have a load of 50 plastic bottles coming tomorrow, how exciting! That's one thing that Cindy didn't catch from the translation was that we were going to pay her 1 Quetzale for every 3 liter bottle she brought in. I was afraid that there would be 10,000 of them! Alas, there were none, she must not of understood Emily's translation because that could have been a big, big payday for her. Too bad, but it sheds some light on the level of english/spanish compatibility even amongst the fluent.
I have prepared a handout for the new volunteers and employees that states exactly why Buckets of Rain is here at Safe Passage. In English and Spanish. We have 10 food totems and food ladders ready to leave the confines and go into the hood for testing and feedback.
Boy, these plants could really benefit from a soaking rain, which is nowhere in sight. Hey! Check out our new logo! Thanks to ABI in NYC, especially Amy Epstein, for their kind donation of time.
JANUARY 11, 2012
The official designation of the Guardaria as a 'school' has cost Safe Passage at least one spectacular person so far because they are no longer 'qualified'.. We saw this same situation, many times more devastating, in Lesotho, Southern Africa, when the government changed the qualifications for the position of 'principal' and didn't allow for any 'grandfathering (in Lesotho's case 'grandmothering') IN of existing administrators. I hope they know what they are doing.
Every plant got a nice bath of organic pesticide soap and all that jazz today and will be on a steady diet of Neem oil from here on in. It was an organic treatment because that's all I could get my hands on in a pinch. I came back from 'vacation' to find the garden ruled by powdery mildew, aphids, and cabbage worms. Geez, just like at your house, eh?
If you 'tree huggers' (and I am your King, by the way) think we're gonna deny people the best quality and most quantity of vegetables in a food emergency- for want of some feel good organic treatment- you're wrong. Attack our plants - especially when we can't be there to protect them -and you will get nuked.
One precious moment. .. Dear Marta of the 'rock the world' kitchen crew said to me- in our best sign language- today that it was time to stake some tomato plants! Yes! Marta, just tell me what you want me to do Senora, you got it!
tomato cage, per Senora Marta's instructions Isabel and Marta gotta get back to the kitchen making concrete for the bases of the Food Totems
Thank You to all supporters of 11 Oaks / Buckets of Rain projects. We won't let you down.
January 12,13 2011
The insecticidal soap seems to be working, primarily on the insects but the new leaves on the mildewed plants look pretty good. It's kind of nice to work in a weed free environment- a real perk of urban gardening. We took first cutting of spinach and are starting to pick a few beans here and there.
I went to the store and bought 500 styrafoam cups (yea, I buy stuff, I got money and don't have the time to scrounge- besides the old saying "living too much like a local can kill you"). We have to put the seedlings from the propagation trays somewhere, and our supply of recycled plastic containers has run out. Stacy Workman and I moved em up and then replanted the trays so the cycle continues.
Hanleys Farm gets more visitors all the time, and it's on the tour! I get 5 minutes to talk to the visiting group! I love the look on their faces. I had a nice talk with the new volunteers. I REMIND VISITORS TO THE SITE LIKE I WILL REMIND YOU NOW: HANLEYS FARM IS AN EXPERIMENTAL GARDEN DEVELOPING AND MONITORING TECHNIQUES TO GROW VEGETABLES IN THE INNER CITY UNDER THE HARSHEST CONDITIONS. If anything is gonna go wrong, do it HERE, NOT THERE.
NO RAIN, VERY LITTLE SOIL, GREY WATER FROM THE KITCHEN, COLD NIGHT TIME TEMPERATURES, RESTRICTED ROOT ZONES, DUST AND POLLUTION PARTICULATES COVERING THE LEAVES AND REDUCING PHOTOSYNTHESIS....
But, I really shouldn't talk with my mouth full!
Helping out: Isabel, Marta, and Deborah Stacey replants the radish zone
January 17, 2012
Videos coming soon! There is already a brief, 6 minute introduction to extreme urban gardening on YOUTUBE
I'm working from Antigua today, it's also laundry day. On my way to the laundromat I passed two guys leaning on gigantic bundles of bamboo. You know, the stuff I don't seem to be able to procure? Even if you don't speak the language it's easy to communicate when there is money involved. Long story short. I bought 100 ten foot long canes and Juan Carlos will deliver them to the Guardaria in Guatemala City! Don't even think about asking me to curb my enthusiasm.
Thanks to my landlady, AnnaMaria, who came down the street with me to interpret and negotiate price. That's enough bamboo to build 50 food ladders and grow 750 vegetables.
WOOWOO! The first of the Urban Gardening tutorials has hit YouTube! Go to our Extreme menu bar, check out the subtle changes, then scroll down to our new section on Urban Techniques. I don't have any cool music on my little laptop, so, there you have it....
week of January 23 Almost all of the tutorials are up on you tube. The first harvest of beans is done and we've pulled the old ones and have replanted. The tomatoes are flowering. I can't over emphasize how the cold nights here have slowed growth. But we have harvested!
It's almost time for the Service Teams and various friends and associates of Buckets of Rain to come visit Guatemala. Buckets of Rain is now on Face Book please visit us. I'm still trying to get the 'forwarding' command to work on Go Daddy so that when someone looks for Buckets of Rain they will be forwarded to this website. It seems pretty straightforward no pun intended.
Feb 6..................
Feb 12....
The past week has seen Buckets of Rain unveiling it's new plan for introducing the concept of vertical gardening to the surrounding neighborhood. We're setting up 'personal gardens' for the parents of the children who attend the 'Escualita'. If a family wants, they can use 3 linear feet of wall space inside the Escualita.
Buckets of Rain will have a 5 foot tall food ladder leaning against a wall and also straddling a spare tire garden, so the footprint is very small, yet it will hold 25 plants. The family can 'experiment' in our area before moving their 'garden' (which of course is portable) to their home.
If they choose to take their garden home they must do the following. They must bring in the pop bottles we use for pots, the waste styrofoam, and an old tire and they must build the replacement for the garden they are taking. Right down to replanting the new ladder and tire. That way, they will be a part of the entire process and will be enabling their neighbors to have a place inside the escualita as well. They will be able to teach others who are 'beyond the wall'.
Kim explains the prototype ladder/tire Rosa is pleasantly surprised by Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage
garden to some of the Moms the lightness of this pop can garden visit Hanley's Farm
Feb 18
Visited a project in San Antonio Agua Calientes, about 25 minutes from Antigua. Our hosts, Desi Stephens and Fredy Maldonado have a new NGO that serves the poor with projects in health and gardening. There exists a strong probability that our gravity fed drip irrigation techniques could be of great benefit to this ancient community. I observed a steep, steep hillside that could serve the vegetable needs of 7 families if they just could get water to it in the dry season. Needless to say, I'm packing up the emitters and pipe and cannot wait to get to work on it!!!! This is a very different place from Guatemala City-indeed!
Sue and Stacy just finished the 'great green bean massacre' at the escualito. Our last planting of njotes (green beans) came from infected seed. Approximately 200 plants had to be destroyed. Luckily, we have lots of spinach and chard and tomatoes to take their place. It's all part of farming, folks!
left: chris, fredy, farmer, desi right: desi stephens
Feb 21
Spent the day working with Fredy Muldonado of the Guatemalan NGO 'Education and Development'. We planted several hundred lettuce plants at a community garden in San Antonio Aguas Calientes and put a couple hundred on drip irrigation. In the afternoon we lugged a pick up truck of bricks to a home where, on Thursday, we will put in a cement block floor to help prevent hookworm- one of the developing world's nastiest creatures. Buckets of Rain will be donating the cement and sand for that project and a flat of green beans for one later in the day.
Desi Stephens of E & D left for the States the same day and time as Sue did so we could all ride to the Airport together at 4:45 am. Desi is in Chicago for a week addressing a conference on rural development. Sue is probably shoveling snow!
Back, at long last, in the drip irrigation game! Here are a few of the lettuce we planted.
Because I'm into the pick up truck thing, you should know this: Fredy has a Datsun the size of a Ford Ranger, just a little thing. But, it's a one ton, is 32 years old, and gets 27 miles per gallon... just sayin....
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